Nov 25, 2014

PHYS 5583

(E & M II)

Home Work #13

1. (P21)
Jackson problem 7.15.

2. (P2)
A plane polarized wave traveling in a vacuum in the +z direction of
the form
E = E0 ei(kzwt)
is incident normally on a flat homogeneous conducting surface. Assume
the conductor is a good conductor described by a conductivity with
1 and Re[] 1. Recall that is defined by J = E. The wave
inside the conductor can be found by simply defining a complex index
of refraction = 1 + i4/ and using the Fresnel formulas given in
Problem 2.
Recall that in any homogeneous material k = n /c. The reflection
and transmission coecients are defined respectively as the ratio of the
time averages of the Poynting vectors of the reflected and transmitted
waves to the incident wave:
c
Re[E] Re[H],
4
c
Re[E H ],
=
8 [ ]
c
n

=
Re
(E E ) k.
8

S =
< S >tave

(a) Evaluate the reflection R and the transmission T coecients at

the junction and show that R + T = 1.
(b) Show that the transmitted waves amplitude exponentially decays
as it penetrates the conductor according to
|E (z)| = |E (0)|ez/ .
Evaluate delta as a function of and . Show
that for low frequencies such that 4/ >> 1 then c/ 2, the familiar
value for the skin depth.
(c) Show that the time average of the energy being transmitted into
the conductor is lost to I 2 R heat losses within the conductor,
i.e., show that the time average of Re[J]Re[E] integrated over 1
cm2 from z = 0 to z = in the conductor is equal to the time
averaged Poynting vector of the transmitted wave at z = 0. The
time average of Re[J]Re[E] is just Re[(J E )/2].

3. (P3)
Assume the dielectric constant for a circularly polarized harmonic plane
wave traveling in a plasma is
() = 1

p2
,
( B )

where the plasma frequency is related to the free electron density N0

by
4N0 e2
p2 =
me
and the cyclotron frequency is related to the component of the magnetic
induction parallel to the waves direction by
B =

eB||
.
me c

The upper sign is for left circularly polarized waves and the lower is for
right. Assume is not very close to B
(a) What happens to a plane wave if it inters a region where < 0
for either left or right circularly polarized waves?
(b) If > 0 for both polarizations at the frequency you are considering, what is the group velocity of a pulse of circularly polarized
wave, and which polarization travels faster, left or right circularly
polarized? Recall that the group velocity is related to the index
of refraction by
c
vg =
.
n + dn/d
If >> p the dierence in your group velocities should be
2p2 B
vp = c 2
.
( B2 )2
(c) For this part assume >> p . If you know the distance R to a
source emitting pulses of polarized light, how would you use the
the arrival time dierences of right and left circularly polarized
wave packets to determine the average value of N0 B|| between
you and the source? Does the source have to emit a particular
polarization i.e., would right or left circularly polarized waves, or
plane polarized waves work? Explain. The arrival time depends
on an integral
R
dz
.
T () =
vg
0
Would you use frequencies much larger, much smaller, or almost
the same as B to measure < N0 B|| >?