Electromagnetic Engineering

Tutorial-2: EM waves in bulk

Spring, 2024

1. An medium is having epslionr = 10 and µr = 25. If a wave traveling along the +x-direction has an electric field
of E~ = 5ẑ V/m. What is the magnetic field of the wave? What is the Poynting vector of the wave?
2. The magnetic field in a dielectric medium of r = 10 is given as,

~ = (5ŷ − 8 jẑ) e j(2∗π∗109 t−~k·~r)

H (1)
(a) What is |~k|?
(b) If the wave is propagating in the x̂ direction, then what is the value of magnetic field at x = 1cm, y = 2cm, z =
3cm at time t = 0.5ns? (answer can be in complex form.)
(c) If the wave is propagating along the x̂ direction, then what is the expression for electric field?
(d) What is the Poynting vector?
(e) What are the ellipse parameters of the polarization of the electric field?

3. Derive the general expression for the polarization matching (power transfer) efficiency for any two polarization
states in terms of this Ellipse parameters.
4. In the class we had derived the Poynting Theorem by defining instantaneous Poynting vector as P ~ = E~ × H, ~ for
general fields. Later we showed that for a plane wave the instantaneous PV has a constant term plus a time varying
term. The constant term contributed to the average value of PV carried by the EM wave. This average value is
given by P~ avg = 0.5Re(E~ × H
~ ∗ ). Fortime-harmonic fields, let us define a complex PV as P
~ comp = 0.5E~ × H
~ ∗ , in its
phasor form. From the Maxwell’s equations for time-harmonic fields, derive the Poynting Theorem. What will be
the real and imaginary components of the complex PV for time-harmonic fields when the E and H are (i) in-phase
and (ii) when 90◦ out of phase, (iii) intermediate phase between 0◦ and 90◦ .

5. A unifrom plane wave is propagating in a conducting medium. Derive the expression of PV in the medium.
What will the expression in the low-conductivity (Good conductor) limit? What will be the expression int he
good-conductor limit?
6. Derive the expression of intrinsic impedance of a conducting medium.

7. A material has isotropic dielectric constant but anisotropic relative permeability tensor of ← ~=←
µ→r , such that B ~
µ→r H.
Consider Cartesian coordinates and time-harmonic fields. Derive the general matrix equation for getting the
isofrequency surfaces.
8. For the above question, consider a diagonal permeability tensor. Derive the isofrequency curves for in-plane
propagation in the x − y plane. What do the two curves correspond to?

9. Now consider that the you have a material which has anisotropic permeability as well as anisotropic permittivity.
Derive the matrix expression that will give you the isofrequency surfaces for such a complex material.
10. Consider a non-magnetic material with anisotropic dielectric permeability. Also consider an inplane propagation.
As derived in the class, there will be two solutions for the characteristic equation, giving two isoferquency curves.
For the elliptical IFC, show that,

1
 ~ is not the same as that of E~ at all points on the IFC.
(a) The direction of D
~ is perpendicular to the direction of ~k at all points on the IFC.
(b) The direction of D
(c) The direction of E, ~ is tangential to the IFC at all points on the IFC.
Note that for an ellipse, the direction of tangent is not perpendicular to the radial direction, i.e. the direction
of ~k, at all points on the IFC.
(d) The direction of PV is normal to the IFC at all points on the IFC, which need not be the direction of ~k.
11. For time-harmonic fields, the conductivity term in the fourth Maxwell’s equation can be combined with the relative
dielectric constant (not actually a constant), by defining a complex dielectric function. What is the frequency
frequency dependence of the real and imaginary components of the complex dielectric constant. How does the
conductivity and frequency effect the imaginary component of the dielectric function?
~
12. Electric displacement density D(t), in the time domain arises due to orientation of dipoles under the action of
~
applied electric field E(t). The behavior of this process of orientation quantified by the dielectric constant (it is
not really a constant). A dielectric material in the time domain can be modeled by an LTI system shown below.
(t) is the impulse response of the system, and ˜ (ω) = FT {(t)} is the corresponding transfer function. Obviously
D(ω) = ˜ (ω)E(ω).

(a) A material is called dispersion-less if ˜ (ω) is a constant, i.e. ˜ (ω) = 1 . What is (t) for dispersion-less
material?
(b) Consider a dispersive material in which the dielectric constant is function of frequency, ˜ (ω) = 1 − ω162 . Is this
system causal or non-causal? Justify your answer. [Hint: You need not compute (t) to answer this.]
(c) All practical materials have real-valued impulse response ((t)). In addition, the impulse response has to be
causal, i.e. (t) = 0 for t < 0, because the electric displacement D ~ cannot be a function of future values
~
of E. Explain why for a causal system the real and imaginary components of ˜ (ω) cannot be independent.
Derive the general relation between the imaginary component ˜i (ω) and the real component ˜r (ω) of ˜ (ω) =
˜r (ω) + j˜i (ω). This relation is called Kramers-Kronig relation and is widely used for characterization of
materials. [Hint: A general causal system can be expressed as (t) = (t)u(t) or (t) = f (t)u(t).]
You can apply concepts from of Signals & Systems course.

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