Question

What is a uniform plane wave?

Answer 1

Hint:A plane wave is a particular type of wave or field in physics; it is a physical entity whose value is constant through any plane that is perpendicular to a fixed direction in space at any given time. This question requires an explanation of uniform plane waves.

Complete step by step solution:
Uniform plane waves are produced by the time-varying electric and magnetic fields in an unbounded, homogeneous material. Using the strength of the electric and magnetic fields, a uniform plane wave can be identified.

Spherical electromagnetic waves are produced by sources. They act as plane waves when they are far away from the sources. A wave is referred to as a plane wave when its electric (E) and magnetic (H) field vectors are on planes that are parallel to the direction of propagation, in this case the z-direction. An illustration of a plane wave is transverse electromagnetic waves (TEM waves).

When the amplitudes of plane waves are uniform, they generate plane waves with constant phase fronts. Therefore, the plane wave becomes a uniform plane wave if the vectors E and H are constant at any of the planes at a certain instant.The electric and magnetic strengths of a uniform plane wave have a constant amplitude over the equiphasic surfaces. Infinitely far from the source, in empty space, this wave can be found.

Uniform plane waves often show uniform or constant properties in a plane perpendicular to their path of propagation. In uniform plane waves, the H field and E field have orientations that are both perpendicular to the wave's path of propagation.For any position \[\overrightarrow x \] in space and any time \[t\] , the value of such field can be written as follows:
\[F\left( {\overrightarrow x ,t} \right) = G\left( {\overrightarrow x \cdot \overrightarrow n ,t} \right)\]
Here, \[\overrightarrow n \] is unit length vector, and \[G\left( {d,t} \right)\] is a function that portrays the value of the field as being reliant on just two real parameters.: the time \[t\] , and the scalar valued displacement \[d = \overrightarrow x \cdot \overrightarrow n \] of the point \[\overrightarrow x \] along with direction \[\overrightarrow n \].

The following are some essential traits of uniform plane waves:
- The directions of the vectors E and H are perpendicular to one another (z-direction). The fields E and H are simply functions of z, time, and are independent of the transverse coordinates x, y.
- In each individual plane normal to the z-direction of the wave at any given time, E and H have the same magnitudes.
- At every location and at every instant in time, the ratio of the E to H vector magnitudes is the same.

Following are the definitions of the displacement field (also known as electric flux density), electric field (commonly known as E), magnetising field (also known as magnetic field strength), and magnetic field (also known as B) (or magnetic flux density).

The disturbance created in front of a large plane sheet will have the same phase on a plane parallel to the sheet if the sound is created by vibrating the sheet. In this case, the wavefronts are planes (without considering the aftereffects), and the propagation direction is perpendicular to these planes. These waves are known as plane waves.

Note: The term "plane" does not necessarily imply that the electromagnetic wave is propagating in just one plane. Its term is actually derived from the wavefront's form. Because the electric and magnetic fields' corresponding directions determine the path of wave propagation, which is along an axis perpendicular to both, this wavefront is planar.