APPENDIX

THE DAMPING CONSTANT OF A FREELY OSCILLATING DIPOLE

assumption that Equation (6.80) properly describes the motion of the

center of gravity of a freely oscillating electron cloud of total charge - e and mass in,
if the Z axis is aligned with the displacement, one 111ay write
UNDEH THE

1nzi + tizz = - 2bi 2

!!-dt (~2 niz? + 2~ aZ

which yields

2)

==

(~I.1 )

2bi 2

(~L2)

Therefore P == 2bi 2 is the instan taneous t.ime rate of energy loss by the atorn through
radiation to its surroundings.
Solution of (6.80) gives
z(t) == zae-(b/m)t cos wat
wherein Zo is the initialdisplacement of the electron cloud and

Wo

~~m _ (~)2
m

(~'I.4)

is the natural frequency of oscillation. From this it follows that

P ==

2bz~e-(2b/m)t

b
( -1n cos wot

)2

Wo sin wot

(1\1.5)

If 2b/1nwo 1 (this will subsequently be shown to be the case), then the decay is very
small during one cycle, and the energy lost by the oscillating atom in one cycle at the
time t is

lV ==

9b

J (b-

Zo e-(2b/m)t
Wo
0

>.J

27T"bz~

== - - [( -b

Wo

'}}1,

211"

cos wat

)2 d(wot)

Wo sin wat

)2 + Wo2J e-(2b/m)t
(lV1.6)

~ 27T"bwoz~e-(2b/m)t

The radiation field associated with this emission of energy may be deduced from the
magnetic vector potential function
-e{i}
(lV1.7)
A == lz - - - - 1
47T"J.Lo r

APPENDIX

The Darnping Constant of a Freely Oscillating Dipole

551

in which {z} is the retarded value of dz/ dt and Zo is assumed to be very small com pared
to the wavelength A = 27rcl woo Upon computing B in spherical coordinates from
B = V X A, one finds that only Bep contains a term with an 1'-1 dependency, and that
this term is given by

Rep = - ezo sin

-1 e e-(b/m)(t-r/c) { [(-b
47r J..L 0 cr
m

)2 - Wo2] cos Wo (1')

t - - + 2wo -b.
SIn Wo ( t c
m

-r)}

c
(lVI.8)

Through use of Poynting's theorem, the instantaneous density of power flow across
a spherical surface of large radius 1', centered at the dipole, is

CP = J.lo1cB~
so that the total power crossing the surface at time t is

d:

6:~;lC

e-(2b/m)(H!c) {[

(;y - w~]

cos Wo

(t - ~) + 2wo; sin Wo (t - ~) r

Through further use of the assumption that 2b/1nwo

the surface in one cycle at the time t is therefore

e2z w
~ ~ e-(2b/m)(t-r!c)

1, the energy which crosses

6J.lo c

(lVI.9)

But this should equal the energy which left the dipole during one cycle at the earlier
time t - ric. That energy can be found by using retarded time in (lV1.6). When this is
done and the two expressions are compared, one finds that

b=

e2w~

e2w~

127rJ..Lo 1 c

- - -3
121l'" Eoc

(1\1.10)

To check the validity of an earlier assumption, this may be written in the form
2b
me

e2wo

---~
3
7r Eo1n c

10- 5

in which the high value Wo = 10 17 has been used. Thus the assumption that 2b/1nwo 1
is entirely justified and (lVI.I0) is a good approximation to the value of the damping
constant.