Assignment 4: Waves and optics

Group and phase velocity, Maxwells equations, wave nature of light

1. (i) The phase velocity
v of transverse
waves in a crystal of atomic separation a


sin(ka/2)
, where k is the wave number and c is constant.
is given by v = c
(ka/2)
Show that the value of the group velocity is c cos(ka/2). What is the limiting
value of the group velocity for long wavelengths?
(ii) The dielectric constant of a gas at a wavelength is given by
r =

c2
D
B
=A+ 2
2
v

,
where A, B and D are constants, c is the velocity of light in free space and v is
its phase velocity. If the group velocity is Vg , show that Vg r = v(A 2D2 ).
 
c2
e
,
(iii) The relative permittivity of an ionized gas is given by r = 2 = 1
v

where v is the phase velocity, c is the velocity of light and e is the constant value
of the electron plasma frequency. Show that this yields the dispersion relation
2 = e2 + c2 k 2 , and that as e , the phase velocity exceeds that of light, c,
but that the group velocity (the velocity of energy transmission) is always less
than c.
2. (i) For the Fresnel equations for reflection and transmission of electromagnetic
waves across the boundary of two dielectric media of refractive index ni and nt ,
plot the phase shifts of the reflection coefficients for both s and p polarizations
as a function of the incident angle for nt > ni , and vice versa.
(ii) Can a glass slab of refractive index 1.5 act as a 50% beam splitter for a
vertically polarized light beam at 600 nm?
(iii) Derive an expression for the speed of an evanescent wave in the case of
internal reflection in terms of c, ni and i .
3. (i) Show that in a conducting medium, the displacement current leads the conduction current by 90 .
(ii) Determine the displacement current between the circular plates of a capacitor
of radius 5 cm when they are separated by 2.5 cm, and a potential difference of
100V is applied across the plates for 100 ms. Assume permittivity of free space
to be 8.85e-12 C 2 N 1 m2 .

4. (i) Describe completely the state of polarization of each of the following waves:
(a) E = E0 cos(kz t) E0 cos(kz t)

(b) E = E0 sin 2(z/ t) E0 sin 2(z/ t)

(c) E = E0 sin(t kz) + E0 sin(t kz /4)

(d) E = E0 cos(t kz) + E0 cos(t kz + /2).

(ii) Two ideal linear sheet polarizers are arranged with respect to the vertical
with their transmission axis at 10 and 60 , respectively. If a linearly polarized
beam of light with its electric field at 40 enters the first polarizer, what fraction
of its irradiance will emerge?
(iii) Find
! a Jones vector E2 representing a polarization state orthogonal to
1
. What types of polarization do these represent?
2i
5. (i) Suppose a light wave propagates from a point A to another point B, and we
introduce into its path a glass plate (ng = 1.5) of thickness l = 1 mm. By how
much will that alter the phase of the wave at B if 0 = 500 nm ?
(ii) One of the mirrors of a Michelson Interferometer is moved, and 1000 fringepairs shift past the hairline in a viewing telescope during the process. If the
device is illuminated with 500 nm light, how far was the mirror moved?
(iii) I am asked to infer the properties of two light beams emanating from black
boxes. I set up a Michelson interferometer and observe that in one case I can get
fringes with a path difference up to 70 cm, while for the other case I get fringes
with that up to 70 m. What do I infer about the light beam sources?
(iii) Find the transmitted intensity for a rectangular slab of a dielectric of thickness d and refractive index nt when a plane light wave is incident on it from
a medium of index ni . The walls of the slab facing the light beam are coated

3
with a material whose amplitude reflectance are r, r0 , and transmittances t and
t0 for travel from ni to nt , and vice versa, respectively
(remember r = r0 ).

2r
, plot the output intensity verDefining the finesse coefficient F =
(1 r2 )2
sus the phase shift for F = 1, 10, 50, 100. Find expressions for the free spectral
range (i.e. frequency interval between successive transmission maximas), and the
FWHM of a transmission maxima. Note that this is called a Fabry Perot etalon.
In cases where the distance between the plates can be changed, the device is
called a Fabry Perot interferometer.