MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Physics

Problem Solving 10: Plane Electromagnetic Waves, Poynting Energy
Flow, and Interference Solutions

OBJECTIVES


1. To introduce the concept of energy flow through space due to plane sinusoidal
traveling electromagnetic waves.

2. To quantify that energy flow by introducing the Poynting vector.


3. To quantify the concept of radiation pressure.

4. To develop an order of magnitude feel for the energy flow from the sun into the
earths atmosphere

5. To understand the meaning of constructive and destructive interference

6. To understand how to determine the interference conditions for double slit
interference

7. To understand how to apply the interference conditions for diffraction


REFERENCE: Course Notes: Sections 13-1-13-7, 14-1 through 14-7, 14.9
http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/materials/StudyGuide/guide14.pdf



Problem 1: Plane Electromagnetic Waves Consider a sinusoidal plane elecctromagnetic
wave given by the expression


!
E(x,t) = E
x
(z,t)

i = E
0
cos(kz +!t)

i .

Question 1: What is the direction of propagation of this electromagnetic plane wave?

Answer: If we have a traveling wave of the form

cos(!t + kz) , the wave propagates in
the negative

z -direction (

!

k -direction). To see this plot the wave at

t = 0 , and also at

t = !t . The zeros and peaks of the waveform shift in the negative

z -direction as time
progresses.


Question 2: Determine the relation between

! and

k for this field to satisfy Maxwells
wave equation for the electric field,

1
c
2
!
2
E
x
!t
2
=
!
2
E
x
!z
2
?

Answer: We first take two derivatives with respect to

x .


!E
x
!z
=
!
!z
(E
0
cos(kz +"t)) = #kE
0
sin(kz +"t)

!
2
E
x
!z
2
=
!
!z
("kE
0
sin(kz +#t)) = "k
2
E
0
cos(kz +#t) .

We now take two derivatives with respect to

t .

!E
x
!t
=
!
!t
(E
0
cos(kz +"t)) = wkE
0
sin(kz +"t)

!
2
E
x
!t
2
=
!
!t
("#E
0
sin(kz +#t)) = "#
2
E
0
cos(kz +#t) .

We now use the wave equation to find the relationship between

! and

k
:


1
c
2
!
2
E
x
!t
2
=
!
2
E
x
!z
2
"
#
$
2
c
2
E
0
cos(kz +$t) = #k
2
E
0
cos(kz +$t) "
$ = kc


Note that we take the positive square root because both

! > 0 and
k > 0
.






Question 3: Find an expression for the direction and magnitude of the magnetic field
associated with this plane electromagnetic wave.

Answer: Because

dir(
!
E) ! dir(
!
B) = dir(
!
E!
!
B) = dir(
!
S) = dir( propagation) , at a point

(z,t) such that

cos(kz +!t) > 0 ,

dir(
!
E) =

i ,

dir( propagation) = !

k . Hence

i ! dir(
!
B) = "

k . Therefore

dir(
!
B) = !

j. We know that the magnitudes of

!
E and

!
B are
related by

B
0
= E
0
/ c . Therefore the magnetic field is given by


!
B = !
E
0
c
cos(kz +"t)

j .

Question 4: What is the Poynting vector

!
S=
1

0
!
E!
!
B associated with this wave?

Answer:

!
S=
1

0
!
E!
!
B =
E
0
2
c
0
cos
2
(kz +"t)(#

k) .


Question 5: The definition of a time average of a periodic function

f (t) over one period
is given by the integral expression


f (t) =
1
T
f (t) dt
0
T
!
.

The time-averaged value of the square of the sine function is

2
1
sin
2 2
t
! " #
$ + =
% &
' (
.

What is the time-average of the Poynting vector

!
S ?

Recall that

c
2
=1/
0
!
0
.

Answer:

!
S =
1
T
E
0
2
c
0
cos
2
(kz +!t )dt("

k) =
0
T
#
E
0
2
2c
0
("

k) =
1
2
c $
0
E
0
2
("

k).

where we used the relationship

c
2
=1/
0
!
0



Problem 2 Poynting Vector and Radiation Pressure

Introduction

A plane electromagnetic wave transports energy in the direction of propagation of the
wave. The power per square area is given by the Poynting vector


!
S =
!
E!
!
B

0
.

The power that flows into the rectangular volume cross-sectional area

A and length

c!t
appears as rate of change of the energy stored in the fields inside the volume.


P
power
=
!
S A =
d
dt
U
total
.

The electromagnetic wave also transports momentum, and hence can exert a radiation
pressure on a surface due to the absorption and reflection of the momentum.

The momentum carried by an electromagnetic wave is related to the energy of the wave
according to

U = c
!
p

If the plane electromagnetic wave is completely absorbed by a surface of cross-sectional
area A then the momentum p !
!
delivered to the surface in a time t ! is given by


!
!
p =
!U
c
.

The force that the wave exerts on the surface is then the rate of change of the momentum
in time

F = lim
!t "0
!
!
p
!t
= lim
!t "0
1
c
!U
!t
=
1
c
dU
dt
.

Since the rate of change of energy is related to the power flowing across the surface, the
force is

F =
1
c
dU
dt
=
1
c
P
power
=
1
c
!
S A.

The radiation pressure

P
pressure
is then defined to be the force per area that the wave
exerts on the surface



P
pressure
abs
!
F
A
=
1
c
!
S , perfectly absorbing.

When the surface completely reflects the wave, then the change in momentum is twice
the absorbing case since the wave completely reverses direction,


!
!
p = 2
!U
c
.

Therefore the radiation pressure of a wave on a perfectly reflecting surface is


P
pressure
ref
!
F
A
= 2
1
c
!
S , perfectly reflecting.

Radiation Pressure: Solar Sail

Suppose you want to sail a space capsule through the solar system by using the force
due to the radiation pressure from the suns light to balance the gravitational attraction
from the sun. Imagine that the mass of the capsule and the sail is

1000 kg, that the
circular sail is perfectly reflective, and that it is oriented face-on to the sun. The
luminosity of the sun is

P
sun
= 4 !10
26
J/sec or alternatively the solar constant is

1.4 !10
3
W" m
-2
at the top of the earths atmosphere. The mass of the sun is

1.99 !10
30
kg . Note all of the above quantities are time-averaged.

Question 1: At a distance

r from the sun, the total power output of the sun is spread over
a spherical area

4!r
2
. Determine the time-averaged value of the magnitude of the
Poynting vector on the spherical surface at a distance

r from the sun.

Answer: The magnitude of the Poynting vector on the spherical surface is given by


S(r) =
P
sun
4!r
2
.

Question 2: Determine the radiation pressure on the solar sail at a distance

r from the
sun. You may assume that the solar sail is a perfectly reflecting object.

Answer:


P
rad
ref
(r) = 2
1
c
S(r) .

Question 3: Determine the radiation force on the solar sail

A that has area at a distance

r from the sun.


Answer: The radiation force on the perfectly reflecting solar sail is given by


F
rad
ref
(r) = P
rad
ref
(r) A=
2S(r) A
c
=
2P
sun
A
c4!r
2
.

Question 4: The minimum sail area necessary to balance the radiation force and the
attractive gravitational force can be found by setting

F
rad
ref
(r) = F
grav
(r) . Using the
universal law of gravity (magnitude given by

F
grav
(r) = Gm
sun
m/ r
2
). Assume the sail is
what is the minimum area for the sail in order to exactly balance the gravitational
attraction from the sun?


Answer: This force balance occurs when


2P
sun
A
min
c4!r
2
=
Gm
sun
m
r
2
.
Therefore the minimum area is


A
min
=
Gm
sun
mc4!
2P
sun
=
6.67 "10
#11
$
%
&
'
1.99 "10
30
kg
$
%
&
'
1000kg $
%
&
'
2! $
%
&
'
3"10
8
m/ sec
$
%
&
'
4 "10
26
J/sec
$
%
&
'
= 6.26 "10
5
m
2
= 0.626 km
2
.

If we assume a circular sail, then the diameter

d of the sail is given by


d = 2 A/ ! = 0.89 km.

Question 5: Does the minimum area for the sail depend on how far the sail is away from
the sun? Explain your reasoning.

Answer: The minimum area that we found is independent of the distance from the sun.
The reason is that both the magnitude of the gravitational force and the magnitude of the
Poynting vector vary as

1/ r
2
.

Problem 3 Interference

Introduction

The Huygens Principle states that every unobstructed point on a wavefront will act a
source of a secondary spherical wave. We add to this principle, the Superposition
Principle that the amplitude of the wave at any point beyond the initial wave front is the
superposition of the amplitudes of all the secondary waves.



Figure 1: Huygens-Fresnel Principle applied to double slit

When ordinary light is emitted from two different sources and passes through two narrow
slits, the plane waves do not maintain a constant phase relation and so the light will show
no interference patterns in the region beyond the openings. In order for an interference
pattern to develop, the incoming light must satisfy two conditions:
The light sources must be coherent. This means that the plane waves from the
sources must maintain a constant phase relation.

The light must be monochromatic. This means that the light has just one
wavelength.

When coherent monochromatic laser light falls on two slits separated by a distance d ,
the emerging light will produce an interference pattern on a viewing screen a distance D
from the center of the slits. The geometry of the double slit interference is shown in the
figure below.




Consider light that falls on the screen at a point P a distance y from the point O that
lies on the screen a perpendicular distance D from the double slit system. The light from
the slit 2 will travel an extra distance
2 1
r r r ! = " to the point P than the light from slit 1.
This extra distance is called the path length.

Question 1: Draw a picture of two traveling waves that add up to form constructive
interference.

Answer:


Question 2: Draw a picture of two traveling waves that add up to form destructive
interference.

Answer:



Question 3: Explain why constructive interference will appear at the point P when the
path length is equal to an integral number of wavelengths of the monochromatic light.

, 0, 1, 2, 3, ... r m m ! = " = constructive interference

Answer: The wavefront that emerges from slit 2 travels a further distance to reach the
point P than the wavefront from slit 1. The extra distance is the path length r ! . When
this extra distance is an integral number of wavelengths, the two wavefronts line up as in
the figure in the answer to Question1 and so constructive interference occurs. The
negative values of m correspond to the case when the slit 2 is closer to the point P then
the slit 1.

We place the screen so that the distance to the screen is much greater than the distance
between the slits, D d >> . In addition we assume that the distance between the slits is
much greater than the wavelength of the monochromatic light, d >> !.

Question 4: Based on the geometry of the double slits, show that the condition for
constructive interference becomes

sin , 0, 1, 2, 3, ... d m m ! = " = constructive interference.

Answer: From the geometry of the slits, the path length is related to the distance d
between the slits according to sin r d ! = ". This establishes the condition for constructive
interference.

Question 5: Explain why destructive interference will appear at the point P when the
path length is equal to an odd integral number of half wavelengths

1
sin , 0, 1, 2, 3, ...
2
d m m
! "
# = + $ =
% &
' (
destructive interference.

Answer: When the path length is an odd integral number of half wavelengths, the
wavefront is shifted as in the answer to Question 2, so the maximum and minimum line
up producing destructive interference. (The negative values of m correspond to the case
when the slit 2 is closer to the point P then the slit 1.)

Question 6: Let y be the distance between the point P and the point O on the screen.
Find a relation between the distance y , the wavelength !, the distance between the slits
d , and the distance to the screen D such that a constructive interference pattern will
occur at the point P .

Answer: Since the distance to the screen is much greater than the distance between the
slits, D d >> , the angle ! is very small, so that

sin tan y D ! ! = ! .


Then the constructive interference fringe patterns will occur at the distances,

, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...
D
y m m
d
!
= ! constructive interference.

Question 7: Find a similar relation such that destructive interference fringes will occur at
the point P .

Answer: The destructive interference fringes will occur at

1
, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...
2
D
y m m
d
! " #
+ =
$ %
& '
!