ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN VACUUM

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References: Griffiths, David J. (2007), Introduction to Electrodynamics,
3rd Edition; Pearson Education - Problem 9.9.
Post date: 22 Aug 2014.
Starting with Maxwell’s equations

ρ
∇·E = (1)
0
∇·B = 0 (2)
∂B
∇×E = − (3)
∂t
∂E
∇ × B = µ0 J + µ0 0 (4)
∂t

we can now investigate what happens if we have time-varying electric and

magnetic fields in vacuum. In that case, there is no charge or current so
ρ = J = 0 and we get

∇·E = 0 (5)
∇·B = 0 (6)
∂B
∇×E = − (7)
∂t
∂E
∇ × B = µ0 0 (8)
∂t
We can transform these equations into separate equations for E and B by
taking the curl of the last two:

∇ × (∇ × E) = ∇ (∇ · E) − ∇2 E (9)
∂B
= −∇ × (10)
∂t
∂ 2E
= −µ0 0 2 (11)
∂t
Since ∇ · E = 0 in vacuum, we get
1
 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN VACUUM 2

∂ 2E
∇2 E = µ0 0 (12)
∂t2
A similar calculation for B gives us

∇ × (∇ × B) = ∇ (∇ · B) − ∇2 B (13)
∂E
= µ0 0 ∇ × (14)
∂t
2
∂ B
= −µ0 0 2 (15)
∂t

so we get

∂ 2B
∇2 B = µ0 0 (16)
∂t2
The wave equation can be generalized to higher dimensions. In two di-
mensions, we can consider the force on a patch of membrane held under
tension (as in a drum), and the wave variable is the displacement of the
membrane from equilibrium. In three dimensions, we can consider the
change in some property of a 3-d substance. For example, we can think
of the change in density of a fluid such as water as a sound wave passes
through it. A proper derivation of the 3-d wave equation would take us a bit
far afield here, so we’ll just quote the result. For a scalar field (that is, the
quantity that ’waves’) f the 3-d wave equation is

1
∇2 f = ∂t f (17)
v2

where v is the speed of the wave through the substance.

Given the 3-d wave equation, we can see that each component of E and
B satisfies the wave equation, and that the speed of the wave is the same in
both cases, namely

1
v=√ (18)
µ0 0
Experimentally, it was found that v = c, the speed of light. This result
seems to me to be one of the most magical results in physics. It predicts
that electric and magnetic fields, once produced, sustain each other and
propagate as a wave. Not only that, it suggests (it doesn’t really predict)
that light is itself an electromagnetic wave.
 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN VACUUM 3

We can derive a few more properties of the electromagnetic wave by

applying Maxwell’s equations to solutions of the wave equations. Since
any solution of the wave equation can be expressed as a sum (or integral)
over sinusoidal functions (that’s Fourier analysis), we can consider only
sinusoidal solutions from now on. Considering waves that consist of only a
single frequency ω that travel in the +z direction and have no dependence
on x or y, we can write the solutions as

Ẽ = Ẽ0 ei(kz−ωt) (19)

i(kz−ωt)
B̃ = B̃0 e (20)

where the tilde indicates we’re using complex notation, and that the physical
wave is the real part. The parameters Ẽ0 and B̃0 are constants under the
assumptions we’ve made here. Such a wave is called monochromatic (“one
colour”) because it contains only one frequency (and hence, for visible light,
only one colour) and plane because the wave is constant over any plane
perpendicular to the direction of propagation.
We can now apply Maxwell’s equations to these solutions. First, an ob-
servation about the complex notation. For the fields above, the real parts
depend on space and time through a term cos (kz − ωt) and the imaginary
parts through a term sin (kz − ωt). Maxwell’s equations involve only first
derivatives with respect to space and time, and these derivatives will convert
all cosines into sines and vice versa. Therefore, if the real part of Ẽ or B̃
satisfies Maxwell’s equations (as it does), then applying the same equations
to the imaginary parts just replaces all cosines by sines and thus the imagi-
nary parts must also be solutions. So it’s safe to apply Maxwell’s equations
to the full complex functions Ẽ and B̃.
In a vacuum, both ∇ · E = 0 and ∇ · B = 0 from which we get

∇ · Ẽ = ik Ẽ0z ei(kz−ωt) = 0 (21)

i(kz−ωt)
∇ · B̃ = ik B̃0z e =0 (22)
Since this must be true for all z, we must have

Ẽ0z = B̃0z = 0 (23)

That is, the wave has only x and y components, so it must be a transverse
wave: a wave that oscillates in a plane perpendicular to the direction of
propagation.
We can now apply ∇ × E = − ∂B ∂t , which gives
 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN VACUUM 4

   
∇ × Ẽ = −ik Ẽ0y ei(kz−ωt) x̂ + ik Ẽ0x ei(kz−ωt) ŷ (24)
   
i(kz−ωt) i(kz−ωt)
= iω B̃0x e x̂ + iω B̃0y e ŷ (25)

so

k
B̃0x = − Ẽ0y (26)
ω
k
B̃0y = Ẽ0x (27)
ω

which can be written in vector form as

k 1
B̃0 = ẑ × Ẽ0 = ẑ × Ẽ0 (28)
ω c
Therefore, not only are B and E transverse, they are also perpendicular
to each other.
Now suppose we want a monochromatic, plane wave that travels in some
arbitrary direction given by k̂. The value of the wave function at some point
r in 3-d space depends on the projection of r onto the direction of propaga-
tion, since for a plane wave, the wave function depends only on the distance
we’ve moved along this direction. This projection is r · k̂. We can therefore
define the wave vector k = k k̂ that points along the propagation direction
and replace the kz in the equations above by k·r, so a monochromatic plane
wave travelling in direction k̂ is then

Ẽ = Ẽ0 ei(k·r−ωt) (29)

i(k·r−ωt)
B̃ = B̃0 e (30)
For such a wave, the directions given by Ẽ0 and B̃0 are fixed, and it’s con-
ventional to take the direction of Ẽ0 as the polarization direction n̂. Since B̃
is perpendicular both to Ẽ and k its direction is given by k̂ × n̂ so

Ẽ = Ẽ0 ei(k·r−ωt) n̂ (31)

i(k·r−ωt)
B̃ = B̃0 e k̂ × n̂ (32)
1
= k̂ × Ẽ (33)
c
 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN VACUUM 5

Example 1. Suppose we have a monochromatic plane wave of (real) am-

plitude E0 , frequency ω and phase angle δ = 0. The wave is travelling in
the −x direction and polarized in the z direction. We then have

k −k x̂
= (34)
n̂ =
ẑ (35)
k·r −kx
= (36)
Ẽ0 =
E0 (37)
E E0 cos (−kx − ωt) ẑ
= (38)
E0
B = cos (−kx − ωt) ŷ (39)
c
Example 2. Now we have the same wave, except that it is travelling in the
direction [1, 1, 1] and is polarized parallel to the xz plane. This time

k
k = √ [1, 1, 1] (40)
3

Since n̂ is parallel to the xz plane and k is perpendicular to n̂, we have

n̂ = [nx , 0, ny ] (41)
k · n̂ = 0 (42)
1
n̂ = √ [1, 0, −1] (43)
2

Thus

 
E0 k
E = √ cos √ (x + y + z) − ωt [1, 0, −1] (44)
2 3
1
B = k̂ × E (45)
c  
E0 k
= √ cos √ (x + y + z) − ωt [−1, 2, −1] (46)
6c 3

or, since ω = ck
 ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES IN VACUUM 6

 
E0 ω
E = √ cos √ (x + y + z) − ωt [1, 0, −1] (47)
2 3c
1
B = k̂ × E (48)
c  
E0 ω
= √ cos √ (x + y + z) − ωt [−1, 2, −1] (49)
6c 3c
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