The 3D wave equation

Plane wave Spherical wave

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 Planar and Spherical Wavefronts

Planar wavefront (plane wave):

The wave phase is constant along a

planar surface (the wavefront).

As time evolves, the wavefronts propagate

at the wave speed without changing;
we say that the wavefronts are invariant to
propagation in this case.

Spherical wavefront (spherical wave):

The wave phase is constant along a

spherical surface (the wavefront).

As time evolves, the wavefronts propagate

at the wave speed and expand outwards
while preserving the waves energy.

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 Wavefronts, rays, and wave vectors

Rays are:

k 1) normals to the wavefront surfaces

2) trajectories of particles of light

Wave vectors:

At each point on the wavefront, we may

assign a normal vector k

This is known as the wave vector;

k it magnitude k is the wave number and it
is defined as

k
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 3D wave vector from the wave equation

wa
x ve
fro
nt
kx
k
ector
wa ve v
kz z
ky
y

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 3D wave vector and the Descartes sphere

The wave vector represents the

momentum of the wave.
Consistent with Geometrical Optics,
its magnitude is constrained to be
proportional to the refractive index n
(2/free is a normalization factor)

In wave optics, the Descartes sphere

is also known as Ewald sphere
or simply as the k-sphere.
(Ewald sphere may be familiar to you
from solid state physics)

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 Spherical wave

point
source
Outgoing
rays

Outgoing
wavefronts
(spherical)

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 Dispersive waves

Dispersion curves for glass

Fig. 9X,Y in Jenkins, Francis A., and Harvey E. White.
Fundamentals of Optics. 4th ed. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill, 1976. ISBN: 9780070323308.
(c) McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. This content
is excluded from our Creative Commons license.
For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse .
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 Superposition of waves at different frequencies

Fig. 7.16a,b,c in Hecht, Eugene. Optics. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley,

2001. ISBN: 9780805385663. (c) Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.
This content is excluded from ourCreative Commons license.
For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse .

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 Group and phase velocity

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 Spatial frequencies

We now turn to a monochromatic (single color) optical field.

The field is often observed (or measured) at a planar surface along the optical axis z.

The wavefront shape at the observation plane is, therefore, of particular interest.

x observation planes x

Plane wave Spherical wave

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 Spatial frequencies

Plane wave Spherical wave

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 Today

Electromagnetics
Electric (Coulomb) and magnetic forces
Gauss Law: electrical
Gauss Law: magnetic
Faradays Law
Ampre-Maxwell Law
Maxwells equations Wave equation
Energy propagation
Poynting vector
average Poynting vector: intensity
Calculation of the intensity from phasors
Intensity

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 Electric and magnetic forces

r
q q
F
+ + dl
free charges F
r

I
Coulomb force Magnetic force

(dielectric) permitivity (magnetic) permeability

of free space of free space

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 Electric and magnetic fields

Observation Generation

F velocity
E
v
static charge:
electric E
field
q +
electric field
+
electric

magnetic B charge

induction

B v moving charge
+ (electric current):

Lorentz force + magnetic field

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 Gauss Law: electric field

E E
da
da
+ +
V

Gauss theorem

: charge density

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 Gauss Law: magnetic field

da
there are no
magnetic
charges
B
V

Gauss theorem

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 Faradays Law: electromotive force

E
dl
B(t) (in/de)creasing

A
C

Stokes theorem

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 Ampre-Maxwell Law: magnetic induction

B B

dl dl

E
I

current capacitor
A
A C C

Stokes theorem

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 Maxwells Equations (free space)

Integral form Differential form

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 Wave Equation for electromagnetic waves

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MIT OpenCourseWare
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2.71 / 2.710 Optics

Spring 2009

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