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Department of Physics, Unit Catalogue 2007/08


PH30077 Electromagnetism 2

Credits: 6
Level: Honours
Semester: 1
Assessment: EX100
Requisites:
Before taking this unit you must (take PH20014 or take PH20061) and (take PH20017 or take PH20063) and take PH20020
Aims: An aim of this unit is to provide a mathematical framework for the description of the radiation, transmission, reception and guidance of electromagnetic energy. A further aim is to provide an introduction to the interaction of electromagnetic waves with matter, focussing particularly on processes of absorption, luminescence and scattering within materials.
Learning Outcomes:
After taking this unit the student should be able to:
* describe some simple antennas and analyse their basic characteristics using magnetic vector potentials;
* explain the basic features of guided modes in metallic, dielectric and fibre waveguides;
* derive expressions for the real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric constant of a dipole oscillator;
* write down the Kramers-Kronig relations and explain how these may be used to calculate the dispersion of a material from its absorption spectrum;
* outline the main physical principles underlying Raman and Brillouin scattering.
Skills:
Numeracy T/F A, Problem Solving T/F A.
Content:
Radiation (3 hours): Electromagnetic potentials, retarded potentials, near and far fields, radiation from a Hertz dipole, simple antennas and antenna arrays.
Transmission lines (3 hours): Distributed parameters, equivalent circuit model, transmission line wave equation, loss-less and distortion free lines, terminated lines.
Guided waves (6 hours): The rectangular metal pipe waveguide, dielectric waveguides, optical fibres.
Propagation of electromagnetic waves in materials (4 hours): Atomic oscillators, vibrational oscillators, free electron oscillators. Dipole oscillator model for atomic absorption; resonant frequency and linewidth of atomic absorption lines, frequency dependence of the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant. Kramers-Kronig relations.
Absorption and emission spectra (3 hours): Frequency dependence of complex refractive index in crystalline insulators and semiconductors, glasses, metals, molecular materials, and doped glasses and insulators. Luminescence spectra; fluorescence, phosphorescence, Stokes shift.
Elastic and inelastic scattering of electromagnetic waves (3 hours): Rayleigh, Raman and Brillouin scattering.