Electromagnetic Waves A Repetitive Guide

Electromagnetic waves appear in many forms and their applications are extremely widespread. Without exaggeration it may be said that our ability to employ and manipulate electromagnetic waves forms one of the reasons that communication plays such an important role in society.

The macroscopic theory of electromagnetic waves has been formulated by Maxwell in 1864. But the mathematical-physical nature of the subject makes it difficult for students to master even today. The continuous stream of new college textbooks shows that many teachers encounter this problem and attempt to resolve it by presenting the theory in some suitable form.

In the Electrical Engineering curriculum of the Delft University of Technology, the teaching of electromagnetic waves has been divided into three stages: 1) a basic course on Electricity and Magnetism, 2) an introductory course on Electromagnetic Waves, and 3) advanced courses on the application and computation of electromagnetic waves. The current book is written to facilitate the introductory course on Electromagnetic Waves. It is assumed that students are already acquainted with the basic phenomena and notions of the electric and the magnetic field, and that they know in which way Maxwell's equations describe the electromagnetic field. Starting from Maxwell's equations, this book deals with the derivation of plane wave propagation, plane wave reflection and transmission, electromagnetic rays, waves in two-wire transmission lines, waves in planar waveguides, and the excitation of electromagnetic waves. As such, the aim of the book is to provide a solid understanding of how the basic ingredients that make up the more sophisticated applications follow from Maxwell's equations.

The aim of this course on Electromagnetic Waves is to teach students to manipulate the fundamental formulas in order to solve a problem at hand. To focus on this skill and to overcome the problem of having to learn many formulas by heart, an outline of the main course book entitled 'Electronic waves - an introductory course' is presented in the current booklet.

Contents: Preface 1 Introduction 2 The Electromagnetic Field Equations 3 One-dimensional Electromagnetic Waves 4 Two-dimensional Electromagnetic Waves 5 Electromagnetic Rays in a Two-dimensional Medium 6 Transmission Lines 7 Electromagnetic Waveguides 8 Excitation of Two-dimensional Electromagnetic Waves Answers to Exercises Bibliography Index