One Dimensional Waves. Three Dimensional Waves. Harmonic Waves. Complex Representation of Waves. Plane Waves. Cylindrical Waves.

Spherical Waves.

Wave Motion.
Before we can understand how light moves from one medium to another and how it interacts with lenses and mirrors, we must be able to describe its motion mathematically. The most general form of a traveling wave, and the differential equation it satisfies, can be determined as follows. First consider a one dimensional wave pulse of arbitrary shape, described by , fixed to a coordinate system O'(x',y')

Now let the O' system, together with the pulse, move to the right along the x-axis at uniform speed v relative to a fixed coordinate system O(x,y).

As it moves, the pulse is assumed to maintain its shape. Any point P on the pulse can be described by either of two coordinates x or x', where x' = x - vt. The y coordinate is identical in either system. In the stationary coordinate system's frame of reference, the moving pulse has the mathematical form

If the pulse moves to the left, the sign of v must be reversed, so that we may write

(2.1) as the general form of a traveling wave. Notice that we have assumed x = x' at t = 0, and that the function f is any function whatsoever. We can extend this formalism to three dimensions by defining the wavefunction, , as a function which requires four variables as input (three spatial and one temporal), and returns a single number as the result. Thus we can write . In particular, we have that

(2.2) As before, we see that the function f can be any function whatsoever. The shape of the wave at any instant, say at t = 0, can be found by holding the time constant at that value. In this case,

(2.3) represents the shape, or profile, of the wave at that time.

One Dimensional Waves

To determine the evolution of the wavefunction, let's look at only one dimension. Then where . The variation of with respect to position is given by

while the change in

with respect to time is

Taking the second derivative of these yields

and

Equating the two equations yields our result,

(2.4)

Three Dimensional Waves

This result can be extended to three dimensions by using the same argument for all three components of the vector. In this case, the derivative is replaced by the directional derivative, or gradient, operator, which is written as

(2.5) in Cartesian coordinates. Thus, the wave equation (2.4) becomes

(2.6) where is called the Laplacian operator, and is defined as

(2.7) in Cartesian coordinates.

Harmonic Waves
Of special importance are simple harmonic waves that involve the sine or cosine functions. These waves can be written in a uniform way as

(2.8) where A is known as the amplitude of the wave, k is the propagation number, and is the initial phase, or epoch angle. These are periodic waves, representing smooth

pulses that repeat themselves endlessly. Such waves are often generated by undamped oscillators undergoing simple harmonic motion. More importantly, the sine and cosine functions together form a complete set of functions; that is, a linear combination of terms like those in (2.8) can be found to represent any actual periodic wave form. Such a series of terms is called a Fourier series. How do we interpret (2.8) in a physical manner? Consider the following drawings

The top drawing shows the wave at a fixed time, as in a snapshot. The maximum displacement of the wave is the amplitude A, and the repetitive spatial unit of the wave is shown as the wavelength, . Because of this periodicity, increasing all x by should reproduce the same wave. Mathematically, the wave is reproduced because the argument of the sine function is advanced by . Symbolically,

It follows that wavelength

, so the propagation constant contains information regarding the

(2.9) Alternatively, if the wave is viewed from a fixed position, as in the bottom figure, it is periodic in time with a repetitive temporal unit called the period, . Increasing all t by , the wave form is exactly reproduced, so that

Clearly, , and we have an expression that relates the period to the propagation constant k and the wave velocity v. The same information is included in the relation (2.10) where we have used (2.9) together with the reciprocal relation between the period and the frequency ,

(2.11) Two other parameters are also frequently used. The combination

(2.12) is called the angular frequency, and the reciprocal of the wavelength

(2.13) is called the wave number. The argument of the sine, which is an angle that depends on space and time, is called the phase, . So, in (2.8) we have (2.14)

When x and t change together in such a way that is constant, the displacement is also a constant. The condition of constant phase evidently describes the motion of a fixed point on the wave form. Thus, if is constant

or

(2.15) The term on the left represents the velocity of propagation of the condition of constant phase. This is the speed at which the profile moves and is known commonly as the wave velocity, or more specifically, the phase velocity. Now consider the initial phase, . What is the meaning of that? Suppose our initial boundary conditions are such that when x = 0 and t = 0. Then

from which we see that the required initial phase can be calculated as

(2.16)

Complex Representation of Waves

Frequently, we will find it convenient to represent our wavefunctions as complex functions. The complex number representation offers an alternative description that is mathematically simpler to use. A complex number z is expressed as the sum of its real and imaginary parts,

(2.17) where . The real and imaginary parts of z are x and y respectively, where both x and y are themselves real numbers. The form of the complex number can also be cast into polar form

The magnitude of z, symbolized by r, also called its absolute value or modulus, is given by the Pythagorean theorem as

Combining this with the diagram, we see that in (2.17), we get

and

. Combining these

which, by Euler's formula, is

(2.18) where

(2.19) The complex conjugate z* is simply the complex number z with i replaced by -i. Thus, if z = x + iy,

Using Euler's formula, it is possible to express a simple harmonic wave by

(2.20) where

(2.21) and

(2.22) Expressed in the form of equation (2.20), the harmonic wave function thus includes both the sine and cosine waves as its real and imaginary parts. Calculations employing the complex form implicitly carry correct results for both sine and cosine waves. At any point in such calculations, appropriate expressions for either form can be extracted by taking the real or imaginary parts of both sides of the equation. Because the mathematics with exponential functions is usually simpler than with trigonometric functions, it is often convenient to deal with harmonic waves written in the form of equation (2.20).

Plane Waves
Can we write the wavefunction for more complicated waves? We can, if we take advantage of the symmetries inherent in the wave form. For example, let's consider a wave which exhibits rectangular symmetry. In other words, consider a wave moving in the k direction such that, at a fixed time, the phase is a constant. Then the surfaces of constant phase form a family of planes at right angles to the vector k. These planes are called the wavefronts of the disturbance. Mathematically, we can write (2.23) where k is now called the propagation vector and denotes the direction of motion for the wave. The wave given by (2.23) can easily be seen to satisfy a wave equation of the form

(2.24) A wave which satisfies the wave equation (2.24) is called a plane wave. Notice that by an appropriate rotation of our coordinate system, we can orient the wave so that it is propagating solely in the new x direction. In this case, the wavefunction becomes

which supports our claim of rectangular symmetry.

Cylindrical Waves
What other types of coordinate symmetry can we use? There are many different ways to construct a three dimensional orthonormal coordinate set, and each one can be used to define a particular wavefunction. Two of the more common curvilinear coordinates are cylindrical and spherical coordinates. Recall that cylindrical coordinates are defined by

Thus,

In this coordinate system, the Laplacian operator becomes

(2.25) The requirement of cylindrical symmetry means that

The -independence means that a plane perpendicular to the z-axis will intersect the wavefront in a circle, which may vary in r, at different values of z. In addition, the zindependence further restricts the wavefront to a right circular cylinder centered on the zaxis and having infinite length. The differential wave equation is accordingly

(2.26) Let us assume a solution of the form

Substituting this back into the wave equation, we get

Notice that the right hand side is purely a function of t, while the left hand side is purely a function of r. This means that each side must be equal to an arbitrary constant independent of r and t. This technique is known as separation of variables. The right hand side can immediately be solved to yield

where k is a constant. The left hand side is known as Bessel's equation, and is solved in terms of special functions known as Bessel functions. The important thing to know about Bessel functions are that for large values of r they can be approximated as

Thus, for large r, the cylindrical wavefunction becomes

(2.27)

Spherical Waves
Finally, let's consider the case of spherical symmetry. Spherical coordinates are defined by

so

In this coordinate system, the Laplacian operator becomes

(2.28) The requirement of spherical symmetry means that

Thus, the wave equation becomes

(2.29)

As before, let's assume that the solution can be separated, separation of variables yields the two equations

. Then

(2.30) and

(2.31) Equation (2.31) is known as the modified Bessel's equation. We can gain an intuitive idea of the form of the solution to (2.29) without having to solve (2.30) and (2.31) explicitly. Notice that the left hand side of (2.29) is equivalent to

so the wave equation becomes

(2.32) where we multiplied through by r. Notice that (2.32) is just the one-dimensional wave equation with the wavefunction replaced with . Thus, we know that the general solution to (2.32) is of the form

(2.33) When f and g are simple harmonic functions, this simplifies down to

(2.34) Notice that each wavefront is given by kr = constant so that the amplitude of the spherical wave decreases as it moves away from its source.

Last updated: June 14, 1997 Comments to: D-Suson@tamuk.edu