AN EXPLORATION OF RADIATION PHYSICS IN ELECTROMAGNETICS

E. K. Miller 3225 Calle Celestial, Santa Fe, NM 87501-9613 505-820-7371, emiller@esa.lanl.gov

1.0 INTRODUCTION All external electromagnetics (EM) originate from the process of radiation. There would be no radiated, propagated or scattered fields were it not for this phenomenon. In spite of this self-evident truth, our understanding of how and why radiation occurs is relatively superficial at both a fundamental and practical level. Its true that mathematical analysis shows radiation occurs due to charge acceleration. Its also true that we are able to solve for the near and far fields of rather complex objects subject to arbitrary excitation and can thus analyze and design EM systems. However, for example, if the problem is to determine the spatial distribution of radiation originating from the surface of a conducting body, a solution becomes less obvious. Either this particular problem has no answer, or it has eluded us, possibly because it hasnt been found necessary for most applications. Whatever the reason for this situation, it seems undeniable that knowing where radiation originates is worth knowing, if for no other reason than acquiring a better understanding of EM physics. A conceptual way to think about this problem could be to ask, were our eyes sensitive to X-band frequencies and capable of resolving source distributions a few wavelengths in extent, what kind of image would such simple objects as dipoles, circular loops, conical spirals, log-periodic structures, continuous conducting surfaces, etc. present when excited as antennas or scatterers? Various kinds of measurements, analyses and computations have been made over the years that bear on this question. This presentation will summarize some relevant observations concerning radiation physics in both the time and frequency domains for a variety of observables. Even if a quantitative recipe for computing a radiation image using the source distribution obtained from a numerical model is not available, a variety of qualitative statements can be made that bear on this question. Note that not all of the observations made here are necessarily rigorously provable, representing the authors belief about possibly debatable points. 2.0 BACKGROUND It is a physical fact that the 1/r components of the electric and magnetic fields produced by a source distribution, i.e., the so-called far or radiation fields because their Poyntings vector falls as 1/r2 to maintain a constant total power flow over a sphere of radius R, are due solely to accelerated charge. The Lienard-Wiechert potentials show explicitly that accelerated charge alone produces a 1/r, field [Panofsky and Phillips (1956)]. However, charge acceleration need never be dealt with in the majority of EM analysis, unless one seeks specifically to account for radiation in more physical terms. Indeed, if the question What causes radiation? is put to a typical EM student, the typical answer tends to focus on current, being something like Current causes radiation. While this answer can be accepted as not being incorrect, at least superficially, it doesnt really get to the fundamental cause of
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radiation. Without moving charge, there is no conduction current, and absent a change in charge motion, there is no acceleration (the term acceleration is used here whatever the sign of the velocity change). Thus, conduction current inextricably involves charge motion and whose analysis should therefore reveal the acceleration-caused radiation. This may also not be as easy as it first appears to be. Places where charge acceleration occurs on a simple dipole antenna may be fairly obvious after a little thought; at the ends where the current goes to zero because of charge reflection and at the feedpoint where the excitation sets the charge into motion. It may also appear that charge is accelerated along the entire length of the antenna since the current varies periodically both in time and direction all along its length. But if the charge is accelerated everywhere, why then doesnt the total power radiated from a timeharmonic, spatially sinusoidal current filament (SCF) increase linearly with length rather than about a mean value that grows only as the log of the length [Miller (1966)]. This seems to imply that not all parts of that sinusoid are radiating equally. On the other hand, if all of the current isnt radiating, is it then necessary to integrate over all of it to obtain the radiated power? Some additional observations concerning radiation are discussed next, including a comparison of radiation from a sinusoidal current filament with a NEC-modeled dipole. 2.0 OTHER MANIFESTATIONS OF RADIATION A wide variety of phenomena can offer insight concerning EM radiation of which a few of the examples accumulated by the author follow below. 2.1 The Kink Model of Radiation Fields The finite propagation speed of EM waves makes possible a graphical presentation for depicting the electric fields of accelerating charges, thus providing a visual illustration of their radiative behavior. The basis for the field-kink model is illustrated in Fig. 1, where a point charge, originally at rest at position 1, is abruptly moved a short distance to new position, 2. The electric-field lines that terminated on the charge at its initial position require a finite time to adjust to the new location. This time retardation means that information about the charges move reaches an observation point, r, centered on the charges original position, after a propagation time t =R/c where R is the distance from r to 2. Because the new E-field lines point to position 2 while the original ones point to position one, a non-radial, or transverse, component is needed to make them continuous, forming a wave-propagation front, as shown in the figure. This is the radiation component produced by the charges acceleration.
Figure 1. FIeld-kink model for depicting radiation. Using the propagation speed of EM waves and the continuity of E-field lines in a charge-free region, a simple model can be developed that illustrates how a non-radial, or transverse field, is caused by charge acceleration. The kinked lines only occur when charges are accelerated; charges in uniform motion have a radially directed field accompanying them whose density per unit solid angle becomes non-uniform when the speed approaches c [Jackson (1975)].

3.2 Imaging Current Distributions One of the earliest examples of microwave holography is due to Izuka and Gregoris (1970) who measured the near field of a 10-wavelength monopole and generated an optical image of the result in various planes relative to the monopoles location. A result from this experiment is shown in Fig. 2, where the image in the plane of the monopole is seen to consist of two bright spots, at the end and
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feedpoint, showing where the predominant sources of radiation appear to be located. -----------------------------------------------------Figure 2. Results from microwave-holography experiment of Izuka and Gregoris (1970). Part (a) is a photograph of the monopole, while optically reconstructed field distributions are shown (b) at the antenna plane, (c) at a plane in the Fresnel region, and (d) at the Fraunhofer region.

-----------------------------------------------------Its also possible to develop images from farfield data. One way to do this is to process the data using Pronys Method [Miller and Lager (1983)], an example of which is shown in Fig. 3. Because the most straightforward application of Pronys Method requires that the amplitudes of the exponential series be independent of the observation variable, the field values were first multiplied by sin( ) to remove the effect of source directivity. A number of computer experiments using this imaging technique consistently find discrete sources to be located at points where charge acceleration is expected and which therefore should be sources of radiation.
Figure 3. Space poles determined from applying Pronys Method to the far field scattered by a plane wave from a ninewavelength-long wire for: (a) broadside incidence, (b) 5 deg from broadside, (c) 30 deg from broadside, and (d) 60 deg from broadside [Miller and Lager (1983)]. Poles are shown in a complex space plane where the pole position, d , corresponds

to exp[kcos (dre -idim)], so that a purely imaginary pole is located in real space, and an imaginary component implies angular directivity. The amplitude of each source is indicated by the vertical lines on a three-decade log scale. At broadside incidence, the source poles are about one-half wavelength apart, evidently due to the uniform excitatio n along the wires length, with a transition to GTD-like behavior as the angle of incidence approaches near-grazing.

3.4 Space-Time Contour Plots of Time-Domain Fields Time-domain solutions offer an opportunity to identify localized radiation sources because of the time resolution short-pulse excitation makes possible. Examples of doing this are shown in Fig. 4, where a space-time contour format is used to plot the electric field near a center-excited, straight wire and its corresponding far field [Miller and Landt (1980)], obtained using the Thin-Wire Time-Domain model. For the near-field plot, the field values are multiplied by radial distance to compensate for the geometrical fall off, while the propagation time-delay is removed in the far-field plot.
Figure 4. Early-time, space-time contour plots of the electric field produced by an impulsively excited, E K Mill AP S9 R di i Ph i P 3

center-fed straight wire on approximately the same scale [Miller and Landt (1980)]. The near field in the left-hand plot and the far field in the right identify the sources of radiation as the wire center and the two ends, places where maximum charge acceleration occurs.

3.5 Comparison of Radiation from a Sinusoid and Dipole The power radiated by a sinusoidal current filament (SCF) as a function of length is compared with that from a NEC dipole model in Fig. 5. Its significant that the envelope of minimum radiated power grows for both as log(kL) rather than as L2, showing not all charge along their lengths is accelerated equally.
Figure 5. Radiated power from a SCF and NEC dipole model as a function of length. The NEC results agree within a few per cent of the SCF over most of the curve, but depart systematically towards the higher values of radiated power. The NEC minimum power values lie on a curve modeled by A + Blog(kL).

4.0 CONCLUDING COMMENTS Were it not for the process of radiation, electromagnetics would be a much different subject. Yet, the physical basis for radiation does not seem to be well-understood, at least in terms of unambiguously and quantitatively determining the incremental contribution each part of a source distribution makes to the total power that is radiated, even though Maxwells equations show that charge acceleration is the only way to produce a radiation field. Its undeniable that the mathematical and computational tools that are available provide correct solutions to a wide variety of problems, so perhaps attempting to develop a charge-acceleration-based perspective of EM is not necessary. On the other hand, if a clear, quantitative answer to the question Why and from where does an object radiate? can not be given, can we claim to fully comprehend electromagnetic physics? 5.0 REFERENCES Izuka, K. and L. G. Gregoris (1970), Applied Physics Letters, 1 7, 509-512. Jackson, J. D. (1975), Classical Electrodynamics, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. Miller, E. K. (1996), PCs for AP and Other EM Reflections, IEEE AP-S Magazine, June, Oct. Miller, E. K. and J. A. Landt (1980), Proc. of the IEEE, 6 8, 1396-1423. Miller, E. K. and D. L. Lager (1983), Electromagnetics, 3 , 21-40. Panofsky, W. K. H. and M. Phillips (1956), Classical Electricity and Magnetism, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., Reading, MA.
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