EECS 117

Lecture 22: Poyntings Theorem and Normal Incidence

Prof. Niknejad
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 1/29
EM Power Carried by Plane Wave
In a lossless medium, we have found that
E
x
= E
0
cos(t z)
H
y
=
E
0

0
cos(t z)
where =

and =
_
/
The Poynting vector S is easily calculated
S = E H = z
E
2
0

0
cos
2
(t z)
S = z
E
2
0
2
0
(1 + cos (2(t z)))
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 2/29
Average Power of Plane Wave
If we average the Poynting vector over time, the
magnitude is
S
av
=
E
2
0
2
0
This simple equation is very useful for estimating the
electric eld strength of a EM wave far from its source
(where it can be approximated as a plane wave)
The energy stored in the electric and magnetic elds
are
w
e
=
1
2
|E
x
|
2
=
1
2
E
2
0
cos
2
(t z)
w
m
=
1
2
|H
y
|
2
=
1
2

E
2
0

2
0
cos
2
(t z)
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 3/29
Plane Wave Resonance
Its now clear that
w
m
=
1
2

E
2
0

cos
2
(t z) = w
e
In other words, the stored magnetic energy is equal to
the stored electric energy. In analogy with a LC circuit,
we say that the wave is in resonance
We can also show that

t
_
V
(w
m
+ w
e
)dV =
_
S
S dS
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 4/29
Example: Cell Phone Basestation
A cell phone base station transmits 10kW of power.
Estimate the average electric eld at a distance of 1m
from the antenna.
Assuming that the medium around the antenna is
lossless, the energy transmitted by the source at any
given location from the source must be given by
P
t
=
_
Surf
S dS
where Surf is a surface covering the source of radiation.
Since we do not know the antenna radiation pattern,
lets assume an isotropic source (equal radiation in all
directions)
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 5/29
Example Cont.
In that case, the average Poynting vector at a distance r
from the source is given by
S =
P
t
4r
2
=
10
4
4
W
m
2
This equation is simply derived by observing that the
surface area of a sphere of radius r is given by 4r
2
Using S =
1
2
E
2
0

0
, we have
E
0
=
_
2
0
S =
_
2 377
10
4
4
= 775
V
m
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 6/29
Example: Cell Phone Handset
A cell phone handset transmits 1W of power. What is
the average electric eld at a distance of 10cm from the
handset?
S =
P
t
4r
2
=
1
4.1
2
W
m
2
= 77
W
m
2
We can see that the electric eld near a handset is at a
much lower level.
Whats a safe level?
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 7/29
Complex Poynting Theorem
Last lecture we derived the Poynting Theorem for
general electric/magnetic elds. In this lecture wed like
to derive the Poynting Theorem for time-harmonic elds.
We cant simply take our results from last lecture and
simply transform

t
j. This is because the Poynting
vector is a non-linear function of the elds.
Lets start from the beginning
E = jB
H = jD+J = (j + )E
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 8/29
Complex Poynting Theorem (II)
Using our knowledge of circuit theory, P = V I

, we
compute the following quantity
(EH

) = H

E E H

(EH

) = H

(jB) E (jD

+J

)
Applying the Divergence Theorem
_
V
(EH

)dV =
_
S
(EH

) dS
_
S
(EH

) dS =
_
V
E J

dV +
_
V
j(E D

B)dV
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 9/29
Complex Poynting Theorem (III)
Lets dene
e
=

+ , and =

. Since most
materials are non-magnetic, we can ignore magnetic
losses
_
S
(EH

)dS =
_
V
ED

dV j
_
V
(H

HE E

) dV
Notice that the rst volume integral is a real number
whereas the second volume integral is imaginary

_
_
S
E H

dS
_
= 2
_
V
P
c
dV

_
_
S
E H

dS
_
= 4
_
V
(w
m
w
e
)dV
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 10/29
Complex Poynting Vector
Lets compute the average vector S
S =
_
Ee
jt
_

_
He
jt
_
First observe that (A) =
1
2
(A+A

), so that
(G) (F) =
1
2
(G+G

)
1
2
(F +F

)
=
1
4
(GF +GF

+G

F +G

)
=
1
4
[(GF

+G

F) + (GF +G

)]
=
1
2
(GF

+GF)
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 11/29
Average Complex Poynting Vector
Finally, we have computed the complex Poynting vector
with the time dependence
S =
1
2

_
E H

+E He
2jt
_
Taking the average value, the complex exponential
vanishes, so that
S
av
=
1
2
(E H

)
We have thus justied that the quantity S = EH

represents the complex power stored in the eld.

University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 12/29
Example: Submarine Communication
Consider a submarine at a depth of z = 100 m. We
would like to communicate with this submarine using a
VLF f = 3 kHz. The conductivity of sea water is
= 4 Sm
1
,
r
= 81, and 1.
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 13/29
Ocean Water Conductivity
Note that we are forced to use low frequencies due to
the conductivity of the ocean water. The loss
conductive tangent
tan
c
=

10
5
1
Thus the ocean is a good conductor even at 3 kHz
The propagation loss and constant are thus equal
= =
_

2
0.2
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 14/29
Ocean Water Wave Propagation
The wavelength in seawater is much smaller than in air
(
0
= 100 km in air)
=
2

= 29 m
Thus the phase velocity of the wave is also much
smaller
v
p
= f 9 10
4
m/s
The skin-depth, or the depth at which the wave is
attenuated to about 37 % of its value, is given by
=
1

= 4.6 m
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 15/29
Ocean Water Fields
The wave impedance is complex with a phase of 45

|
c
| =
_

8 10
2

c
= e
j45

Notice that
c

0
, the ocean water thus generates a
very large magnetic eld for wave propagation
H =
E
0

c
e
z
cos(6 10
3
t z

)
Where

is the angle of the complex wave impedance,

45

in this particular case

University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 16/29
Ship to Submarine Communication
Now lets compute the required transmission power if
the receiver at the depth of z = 100 m is capable of
receiving a signal of at least 1 V/m
Side-note: the receiver sensitivity is set by the noise
power at the input of the receiver. If the signal is too
small, its swamped by the noise.
E
0
e
z
E
min
= 1 V/m
This requires E
0
= 2.8 kV/m, and a corresponding
magnetic eld of H
0
= E
0
/
c
= 37 kA/m
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 17/29
Poynting Vector in Ocean Water
This is a very large amount of power to generate at the
source. The power density at the source is
S
av
=
1
2
(EH

)
S
av
=
1
2
(2.84 37 cos(45

)) = 37 MW/m
2
At a depth of 100 m, the power density drops to
extremely small levels
S
av
(100m) = 4.6 10
12
MW/m
2
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 18/29
Reections from a Perfect Conductor
Consider a plane wave incident
normally onto a conducting surface
E
i
= xE
i0
e
j
1
z
H
i
= y
E
i0

0
e
j
1
z
The reected wave (if any) has the
following form
E
r
= xE
r0
e
j
1
z
H
r
= y
E
r0

0
e
j
1
z
E
i
H
i
E
r
H
r
S
i
S
r
=

University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 19/29

Boundary Conditions at Interface
The conductor forces the tangential electric eld to
vanish at the surface z = 0
E(z = 0) = 0 = x(E
i0
+ E
r0
)
This implies that the reected wave has equal and
opposite magnitude and phase
E
r0
= E
i0
This is similar to wave reection from a transmission
line short-circuit load.
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 20/29
Total Field
We can now write the total electric and magnetic eld in
region 1
E(z) = xE
i0
(e
j
1
z
e
j
1
z
) = xE
i0
j2 sin(
1
z)
H(z) = y
E
i0

0
(e
j
1
z
+ e
j
1
z
) = y
E
i0

0
2 cos(
1
z)
The net complex power carried by the wave
E H

= z
E
2
i0

0
4j sin(
1
z) cos(
1
z)
is reactive. That means that the average power is zero
S
av
=
1
2
(EH

) = 0
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 21/29
Standing Wave
The reected wave interferes with the incident wave to
create a standing wave
E(z, t) = (E(z)e
jt
) = (E
i0
j2 sin(
1
z)e
jt
)
E(z, t) = 2E
i0
sin(
1
z) cos(t)
H(z, t) =
2E
i0

1
cos(
1
z) sin(t)
Note that the E and H elds are in time quadrature (90

phase difference)
The instantaneous power is given by
S =
4E
2
i0

1
sin(
1
z) cos(
1
z)
. .
2 sin(2
1
z)
cos(t) sin(t)
. .
2 sin(2t)
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 22/29
Standing Wave Power
The electric and magnetic powers are readily calculated
w
e
=
1
2

1
|E
1
|
2
= 2
1
|E
i0
|
2
sin
2
(
1
z) cos
2
(t)
w
m
=
1
2

1
|H
1
|
2
= 2
1
|E
i0
|
2
cos
2
(
1
z) sin
2
(t)
Note that the magnetic eld at the boundary of the
conductor is supported (or equivalently induces) a
surface current
J
s
= nH = x
2E
i0

1
A/m
If the material is a good conductor, but lossy, then this
causes power loss at the conductor surface.
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 23/29
Normal Incidence on a Dielectric
E
i
H
i
E
r
H
r
S
i
S
r
H
t
S
E
t
t
Consider an incident wave onto a dielectric region.
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 24/29
Normal Incidence on a Dielectric
We have the incident and possibly reected waves
E
i
= xE
i0
e
j
1
z
H
i
= y
E
i0

1
e
j
1
z
E
r
= xE
r0
e
j
1
z
H
r
= y
E
r0

1
e
j
1
z
But we must also allow the possibility of a transmitted
wave into region 2
E
t
= xE
t0
e
j
2
z
H
t
= y
E
t0

2
e
j
2
z
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 25/29
Dielectric Boundary Conditions
At the interface of the two dielectrics, assuming no
interface charge, we have
E
t1
= E
t2
E
i0
+ E
r0
= E
t0
H
t1
= H
t2
E
i0

E
r0

1
=
E
t0

2
We have met these equations before. The solution is
E
r0
=

2

2
+
1
E
i0
E
t0
=
2
2

2
+
1
E
i0
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 26/29
Transmission Line Analogy
z = 0

1

2

1

2
These equations are identical to the case of the
interface of two transmission lines
The reection and transmission coefcients are thus
identical
=
E
r0
E
i0
=

2

2
+
1
=
E
t0
E
i0
= 1 +
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 27/29
Harder Example
Consider three dielectric
materials. Instead of solving
the problem the long way,
lets use the transmission line
analogy.
First solve the problem at the
interface of region 2 and 3.
Region 3 acts like a load to
region 2. Now transform this
load impedance by the length
of region 2 to present an
equivalent load to region 1.

3
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 28/29
Glass Coating
A very practical example is the case of minimizing
reections for eyeglasses. Due to the impedance
mismatch, light normally reects at the interface of air
and glass. One method to reduce this reection is to
coat the glass with a material to eliminate the
reections.
From our transmission line analogy, we know that this
coating is acting like a quarter wave transmission line
with
=

0

glass
University of California, Berkeley EECS 117 Lecture 22 p. 29/29