Paper 4, Section II, E

Electrodynamics
Part II, 2019

Consider a medium in which the electric displacement D(t,x)\mathbf{D}(t, \mathbf{x}) and magnetising field H(t,x)\mathbf{H}(t, \mathbf{x}) are linearly related to the electric and magnetic fields respectively with corresponding polarisation constants ε\varepsilon and μ\mu;

D=εE,B=μH.\mathbf{D}=\varepsilon \mathbf{E}, \quad \mathbf{B}=\mu \mathbf{H} .

Write down Maxwell's equations for E,B,D\mathbf{E}, \mathbf{B}, \mathbf{D} and H\mathbf{H} in the absence of free charges and currents.

Consider EM waves of the form,

E(t,x)=E0sin(kxωt)B(t,x)=B0sin(kxωt)\begin{aligned} &\mathbf{E}(t, \mathbf{x})=\mathbf{E}_{0} \sin (\mathbf{k} \cdot \mathbf{x}-\omega t) \\ &\mathbf{B}(t, \mathbf{x})=\mathbf{B}_{0} \sin (\mathbf{k} \cdot \mathbf{x}-\omega t) \end{aligned}

Find conditions on the electric and magnetic polarisation vectors E0\mathbf{E}_{0} and B0\mathbf{B}_{0}, wave-vector k\mathbf{k} and angular frequency ω\omega such that these fields satisfy Maxwell's equations for the medium described above. At what speed do the waves propagate?

Consider two media, filling the regions x<0x<0 and x>0x>0 in three dimensional space, and having two different values ε\varepsilon_{-}and ε+\varepsilon_{+}of the electric polarisation constant. Suppose an electromagnetic wave is incident from the region x<0x<0 resulting in a transmitted wave in the region x>0x>0 and also a reflected wave for x<0x<0. The angles of incidence, reflection and transmission are denoted θI,θR\theta_{I}, \theta_{R} and θT\theta_{T} respectively. By constructing a corresponding solution of Maxwell's equations, derive the law of reflection θI=θR\theta_{I}=\theta_{R} and Snell's law of refraction, nsinθI=n+sinθTn_{-} \sin \theta_{I}=n_{+} \sin \theta_{T} where n±=cε±μn_{\pm}=c \sqrt{\varepsilon_{\pm} \mu} are the indices of refraction of the two media.

Consider the special case in which the electric polarisation vectors EI,ER\mathbf{E}_{I}, \mathbf{E}_{R} and ET\mathbf{E}_{T} of the incident, reflected and transmitted waves are all normal to the plane of incidence (i.e. the plane containing the corresponding wave-vectors). By imposing appropriate boundary conditions for E\mathbf{E} and H\mathbf{H} at x=0x=0, show that,

ERET=12(1tanθRtanθT)\frac{\left|\mathbf{E}_{R}\right|}{\left|\mathbf{E}_{T}\right|}=\frac{1}{2}\left(1-\frac{\tan \theta_{R}}{\tan \theta_{T}}\right)