Reflection and transmission of electromagnetic waves by a dielectric

medium moving in an arbitrary direction

Yao-Xiong Huang
Department of Physics, Sun Yat-SenUniversity of Medical Sciences,GuangZhou,
People’s Republic of China
(.Received 22 April 1993; accepted for publication 6 May 1994)
The problem of reflection and transmission of an electromagnetic wave by a dielectric medium
moving uniformly in an arbitrary direction is analyzed in detail. The expressions for wave four
vectors, the modified law of reflection and Snell’s law, the reflected and transmitted wave field
vectors, and the reflection and transmission coefficients are presented as the general solution for the
problem. These expressions cover all the cases of arbitrary velocities of the moving medium and
reduce to the results given previously by other authors for the particular cases of u = u, , u =v y,
u = v, , and v=u,%+v,$.

1. INTRODUCTION tion of this problem can be applied to many aspects of optics,

The problem of reflection and transmission of a plane
electromagnetic wave by a moving medium has been inves-
tigated by numerous authors. Initially, it was treated as early
as 1958 to 1959 by Paul? and Sommerfeld,2 on the fre-
quency shift of the reflected wave by a moving mirror. Later
in 1965, Tai3 and Yeh4 gave the first solutions for the prob-
lem of reflection and transmission of plane waves by a di-
electric half-space in vacuum moving parallel and perpen-
dicular to the interface, respectively. Then, the problem has
been considered in detail for: the case in which the dielectric
medium moves perpendicular to the plane of incidence;’ the
case in which the dielectric medium moves in an arbitrary
direction parallel to the plane of incidence;6 the energy rela-
tions for plane waves reflected from moving media;7 the
Brewster angle for a dielectric medium moving parallel and
perpendicular to the surface;8 the total reflection at the inter-
face between relatively moving dielectric medium;’ the re-
flection and transmission of a plane wave at the interface
between a stationary dielectric medium and a dielectric me-
dium moving in an arbitrary direction parallel to the
interface;” Snell’s law for the Poynting vector in a semi-
infinite dielectric medium moving parallel5 and
perpendicular” to the surf&e. The investigation also has ex-
tended to some other aspects, such as: the scattering of plane
waves at a plane interface separating two moving media;‘”
the surface impedence of a moving medium;r3 the reflection
and transmission by a moving inhomogeneous medium,14
and by a ferrite surface,” a moving plasma medium,r6 elastic
solids and viscous fluids,r7 etc.‘* However, in all of these
investigations, the problem was treated only for the cases.in
which the dielectric media move in some particular direc-
tions either parallel or perpendicular to the interface. The
solution for the case in which the dielectric media move in
an arbitrary direction with respect to the observer, or even
just in an arbitrary direction parallel to the plane of inci-
dence, or to the plane of vibration, however, has not been
found yet.
The problem of reflection and transmission of electro-
magnetic waves from a dielectric medium is a fundamental
problem in the electrodynamics of moving media. The solu-
radio sciences, and astrophysics. It is also of considerable
practical interests in many monitoring and control applica-
tions, such as radio communication with moving spaceships;
identifying echoes from moving targets from stationary tar-
gets; MT1 radar system; plasma diagnostics; power amplifi-
cation; and laser Doppler anemometry for fluid flow studies.
Therefore, it is desired to have a thorough understanding of
this interesting problem, and a general solution for the case
in which the dielectric medium moves in an arbitrary direc-
tion with respect to the observer seems indispensable. The
purpose of this article is to give such a solution.
The geometry of the problem is shown in Fig. 1. At time
t=O, the z<O half-space is filled by an isotropic, homoge-
neous, and lossless dielectric medium, with permittivity E
and permeability h. The other half-space is empty free
space (eo, h). A uniform plane electromagnetic wave is in-
cident at an angle Bi from free space on the plane surface of
the dielectric medium, which, moves uniformly with an ar-
bitrary velocity v (v=v,~+v,~+u,~) with respect to the rest
frame of the observer K. The plane of incidence coincides
with the x-z plane of the frame.
The problem is analyzed with the principle of phase in-
variance, the covariance of Maxwell’s equations, the consti-
tutive and dispersion relations, by the method based on the
Lorentz’s transformations for field vectors and wave four
vectors from the reference frame K to another reference
frame,’the rest frame of the moving medium K’ , whose axes
parallel to the corresponding axes of frame K.
In Sec. II the wave four vectors and the law of reflection
as well as Snell’s law are considered. The reflection and
transmission coefficients are discussed in Sec. III.
II. WAVE FOUR VECTORS, THE LAW OF REFLECTION,
AND SNELL’S LAW
As described previously in Ref. 19, by matching the
phases of incident, reflected, and transmitted waves at the
boundary between the two media, noting that the boundary is
at z=v,t when t>O, one can obtain the equalities for the
wave vectors k and the frequencies w of incident, reflected,
and transmitted waves:

J. Appl. Phys. 76 (5), 1 September 1994 0021-8979/94/76(5)/2575/7/$6.00 B 1994 American Institute of Physics 2575

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 z

t reflecti wave

20

FIG. 1. The geometry of the problem.

FIG. 2. (a) Angle of reflection 6,, and [b) angle of transmission 0, vs angle
of incidence oi for various values of /I and N,=O.22, N,=O.Si,
k,.(x+v,t)+k,,(y+v,t)+k&,t)-qt N,=O.837, and n=2. The angles on dashed lines are those of 180”-6’,.

(1)
= k&r+ v,t) + k,,.(y + v,t) + k,,(v,t) - o,t
= k,,(x + v,t) + kyt(y + v,t> + k,t(v,t) - qf, (1-n’P2)(k3))2+2 : j3(n2- l)(k.N)
where the subscripts i, r, and t denote the components for
incident, reflected, and transmitted waves, respectively. As +(l-/32j(kxN)2+~ (P2--n2)=0, (4)
Eq. (1) holds for all x, y, and t, it yields
where ~=(E/E~)~‘~,. and N=v/v is the unit vector in the
krr=kxf=kxi, (24 direction of v. Similarly, by combining Eqs. (2~) and (4), we
find that
i2b)
kzt=kdP,U+p, cos Wdl(l-@j,
i2’j Ot="i(l+P~ COSei-p&)/(1-&), (5b)
For our case, kxi=ko sin $i, k,i=O, kzi= -ko cos pi; here where
ko=Wi/C, and c=(E~,LQ) -1’2. Combining Eq. (2cj with the
dispersion relation for the reflected wave, s={C1-p,2)[‘Y2(n2-1)(1-Px sin Bi+,B, COS 8ij2
- sin2 ei] + ( 1 + /3, cos 8i)2}1’2,
and
we immediately obtain k,, and or as follows:
y= l/( 1- /!?2)?
k,,=ko(2P,+~s t’$+/?z cos f+)/(l-/3:), (34 At present, we have given all the components of wave
four vectors for both the reflected and transmitted waves.
WrzC0i(l+2P, c0S Bi+@)/(l-&j, i3b) From these results, we can conclude that, no matter how the
values of v and its three components v, , vY , and v, vary, the
where p=vIc, and Pa=vnlc (a=~, y, z). propagation vectors of the incident, reflected, and transmitted
The dispersion relation for the transmitted wave in the waves always lie on the same plane-the plane of incidence.
moving medium can be deduced following the same ways as In addition, both o, and k,, depend on & and ei. So, there
those described in Refs. 20 and 21, is Doppler shift in frequency for the reflected wave, but it

2576 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 76, No. 5, 1 September 1994 Yao-Xiong Huang

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 90 -0
0.2
0.4
70 0.6
0.8

0;
60

30

10

0.6 0
w 0.8
0.6
30 40 0.4
0: -0.2 c i 0.2
20 -0.4
30 $4
-0.6 -0.2
10 -0.8 -0.4
-0.6
0
10 -0.8

10 30 80 70 90
FIG. 3. (a) (9, and (b) .9, vs Bi for various values of p and e;
N,=N,,=N,=il.577, n=2. The angles on dashed lines are those of
lsoO-Or.
FIG. 4. (a) 0, and (b) 0, vs ei for various values of p and N,=O.837,
N,=OSl, N,=O.22, and n=2. The angles on dashed lines are those of
180”-e,.
occurs only in the case of u,# 0, and the angle of reflection
8, [=tan-‘(&.,/k,,)] is not equal to tli except for the case of
u,=O. Its dependence on Bi for various values of p in sev-
eral sets of N, , N,, , and N, is shown in Figs. 2-4, as the sin e,=sin t9,{sin2 &+[&(& c0S @i+l)’
solution of the modified law of reflection. It is noted that -2&(p, COS Bi+1)q+q2]l(1-p~)}-1’2
when p, is positive, 13~is smaller than 0i and drops to zero as
u, approaches the speed of light; but, for a negative p,, 0, is and
greater than Bi and becomes 90” at an incident angle Bi= 0,.
k,=ko{sii2 hJi+[&& cos Bi+ 1)’
According to Eq. (3a), 8,,=cos-‘[ - 2flJ( 1 + &)]. Beyond
this angle, k,, changes its sign, and the angle of reflection -2&(& COS 8i+l)q+q2]/(1-P~)2}1’2.
becomes greater than 90”. So readers should be aware that
the angles on the dashed lines in Figs. 2-4 are not e,‘s, but III. REFLECTION AND TRANSMISSION
those of 180”- 0,) instead. BiC is smaller as the magnitude of COEFFICIENTS (FOR TE WAVE)
]p,l increases and it exists only in the case of u,#O.
According to Eq. (5b), there also exists Doppler shift for Suppose the incident wave in the observer’s frame K
the transmitted wave in the case-of u,#O. However, different takes the form
from that in the reflected wave, the frequency shift in trans-
mitted wave depends not only on u, , but also on u, , uY , and
n. The angle of transmission &=tan-*](k,,lk,,)]. From Eqs. exp i(k,ix+kziz-cj>it), (84
(2a) and (5a), we can see that it is a function of Bi, n, u, , uY ,
and u,. The behavior of f3, vs 8i for various values of uX,
v,, , and uL is also shown in Figs. 2-4.
The relation between et and Bi now follows Snell’s law Hi=[z) =( 111 @JLxp i(k,ix+k,iz-tiit),
with modifications. According to the result of Eq. (5a), the
modified Snell’s law can be written as (W
where E. and Ho are constant amplitudes. By using the Lor-
k. sin &=k, sin 8,, 63 entz transformations for field vectors,“” one can find the
where real part of the incident wave in frame K’,

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 Eli = [ yp,, sin Si + ( 1 - y)N,N,]Ea , H:i=[ y sin Oi- YP,

Eb,=[y+y(& cos Oi-fl, sin t&)+(1-y)Ni]Eo, (9) - (1- y)N,(N, cos O,+N, sin Oi)]Ho.

E~i=[Cl-Y)Nyffz-YPy ~0s G%,

With the aid of the wave four vectors in this frame, using
Hii=[ y cos di+ y& the principle of phase invariance-and the covariance of Max-
+ (1 - y)N,(N, cos Oi+Nz sin OJ]Ho, well’s equations, we obtain the real parts of the reflected and
transmitted waves in frame K’ by satisfying the boundary
H~i=(l-~)N,(N, cos LJ,+N, sin &)Ho, (10) conditions

n2Az(G3-G1)E:i+n2~2(G3-G1)E~i+[A2(n2A1-A3)+M2(it’M1-M3)]E~i
E:,= , (114
A2(A3-n2A22)+M2(M3--n2M2)+n2G2(G3-G2)
n2(G3-G1)E;i+(n2M1-M3)E;i+(n2M2-M3)E;,
El,= 2 W)
n2(Gz-‘%>
n2(G3-G1)E;,+(n2A1-A,)E;,+(n2A,-A,)E;,
E;,= 9 (llc)
n2U%-G3>
E;=C2(E;,+E;,),
E;,=E;,+E;,, w
E;,=E;,+E;,,

(134
H, _(G~-n2G~)H~i+(n2~,--M~)H~~+(n’M~-M~)H~,
2 Wb)
Y’ n2G2- G3
H, =(G,-n’G,)H:i+(n2Al-A3)H:i+(n*A2-Af)Hr,
XT 3 , (13c)
n-G2- G3

Hit= Hii + H;, , Gr=(y-~l)N,(N, sin 0,-N, cos Oi)-cos Bi-yflz,

H;,=H$“H;, , 04) Ga=(y-l)N,(N,-sin Oi+N&)+L- y&U, , (17)

H;,=H;+H;,,
Gs=(y-l)N,(N, sin B,+N$)+P- y&W,
where
where L=k,,/k,, P=k,,lk,, U=wJoi, and W=w,/wi.
Ar=(y-l)N,(N, sin Si-Nz cos Bi)+sin Oi-ypX, Then, the real parts of the reflected and transmitted
waves in the observer’s frame K are obtained by applying the
inverse transformation to Eqs. (ll)-(14). They are written in
AZ= ( y- l)N,(N, sin Oi+N&) + sin ei- yfl,U, (15) the form as follows:

As=(y-l)N,(N,

Iwr=(y-l)N,,(N,
sin ciri+N,P)+sin

sin @i-N? cos

Bi- y/&W,

Bi)--y&,
(f$)=Y( ,,
2)+tl-dal($)-
M2=(y-

M3=(y-l)N,,(N,
l)N,(N, S~II &+N&)-

sin ~i+NJ’)-yP,W,
yfl,U, (16)
-YPO(
i ” yb,)
(;!), (18)

2578 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 76, No. 5, 1 September 1994 ‘Yao-Xiong Huang

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 _,/.-.-' -. -._- t-r-._.

-1.0 -0.11 -6.6 -0.4 -0.9. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0 -1.0 4.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0
B

FIG. 5. The reflection and transmission coefficients vs p when Bi= 0, n = 2, FIG. 6. The reflection and transmission coefficients vs ,B when 4=60”,
and (a) N,=O.22, N,=OSl, and N,=O.837; Ib) N,=N,=N,=O.577; n=2, and (a) N,=O.22, N,=O.Sl, N,=0.837; (b) N,=N,=N, =0.577;
(c) N,==O.837, N,=O:Sl, N,=O.22. (c) N,=0.837,Ny=0.51, Nz=0.22.

(2)=Y(
$I)
+(l-$a2(
sj (5;)
= @+;jW;j@ z (
-ypo[ Jy u’ :xj (zj, (19)
+?%
iyi’txj
( (Zij, (21)

where
al=N,E:,+NyE6,+N,E:,,

($j=($j+bh(;j a2=N,E:t+N,,Elt+N~~:I,
b*=N,H:,+N,H~,+NZH:,,
bz=NxH~,+N,,H;,+NzH;,.

+yEo(
-zy
1’f+j(Zj¶ (20)
From the results of Eqs. (18), (19), (20), and (21), with
those of Eqs. (9)~(17), we can see that in any case u,fO,
both the reflected and transmitted waves have components of

J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 76, No. 5, 1 September 1994 Yao-Xiong Huang 2579

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FIG, 7. The reflection and transmission coefficients vs the angle of inci-
dence 8, with /3=0.2, n=2, and N,=N,=N,=0.577.
E, , E,, and Hy . That is, they are no longer TE waves, but
linear combinations of E and H plane waves. However, if
uy=O, regardless of the values of u, and u,, both the re-
flected and transmitted waves keep as TE waves.
Now we can determine the reelection coefficient R and
transmission coefficient T by using the relations of
i.s,
R=r
Z*Si
and
i.s,
T=Y--
z*sj ’
where
Si=$(EiXHT),
s,= &.xH;),
St= $(E,xH$).
The asterisk signifies the complex conjugate of the function.
Thus,
R=
ExJf,r-E,rHxr
EoH” COS 8i ’ (27)
&Hxt -E.&f,,
T=
EoHo cos Bi
In Figs. 5 and 6 the values of R and T as well as R + T
are plotted as a function of p for various sets of N, , NV, and
N, at the incident angles of 0” and 60”, respectively. From
Fig. 5, we see that for normal incidence, as /I varies from 0
to 1, R monotonically increases without bounds, while T de-
creases to zero and then increases without bounds. The sum
R+ T decreases from 1 to a minimum and then increases
without bounds. As /3 varies from 0 to - 1, both T and R + T
are always greater than 1 and increase with fl, while R de-
creases monotonically to zero as p approaches to -1 in the
case shown in Fig. S(a); but, in the cases shown in Figs. 5(b)
and 5(c), R decreases to a minimum and then increases a
little bit as /3 approaches to -1.
2580 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 76, No. 5, 1 September 1994
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FIG. 8. The reflection and transmission coefficients vs the angle of inci-
dence Bi With p=-0.2, n=2, and N,=Ny=Nz=0.577.
For oblique incidence, we can see from Fig. 6 that the
variations of R and T with /I are quite different from those
shown in Fig. 5 for the case of normal incidence. It is worth
noting that, even when the wave &incident from free space
into a medium with a refractive index greater than 1, total
reflection is possible if the medium is moving with a positive
p; but, if the medium is moving with a negative p, R de-
creases to zero at a value of /? at which the condition for 0i,
cm is satisfied. Beyond this value, there is no reflection any
more.
The curves of R and T as well as R + T versus the inci-
dent angle for two values of p are plotted in Figs. 7 and 8,
respectively. It is observed that the curves are not symmetric
03)
with respect to the axis of Bi = 0. This results from the dif-
ference in the azimuthal angles between the wave vector of
incident wave and u, , as the incident wave travels from + di
(24) and - Bi regions, respectively. Figure 7 shows that, for a
positive pt as 1oil increases from 0” to 90”, both R and T
12% increases without bounds, but T decreases to a minimum
after passing a broad maximum, then increases rapidly with-
(26) out bounds. From Fig. 8 we note that, for a negative fl, R
increases with Bi slightly, then drops to zero at the angle of
I)i,, because 8,= 90” at the angle. T also decreases to zero at
another incident angle 8im= cos-‘1 -&I; thereafter, T in-
creases without bounds. It is worth noting that the.transmit-
ted angle has a maximum also at 8i, in its dependence on
Bi, as seen in Figs. 2-4. Apparently, both OiC and 8i, exist
CW only in the case of u, # 0. The presence of u, , uy , and the
variation of n just vary the value of 8,, but.do not affect its
maximum at Bi, and the occurence of zero reflection and
transmission coefficients at these two specific incident
angles, respectively.
In the particular cases of u =uX, u =uy , u =uZ, or
v=ux~+u,~, Eqs. (18)~(28) re d uce to the results given pre-
viously for the cases where (1) the medium is moving paral-
lel to the interface, by Yeh;4 (2) the medium is moving per-
pendicular to the plane of incidence, by Shiozawa and
co-workers;’ (3) the medium is moving perpendicular to the
interface, by Daly and Gruenberg7 and Yeh;* (4) the medium
is moving in an arbitrary direction parallel to the surface of
the medium, by Pyati6 and by Shiozawa and Hazawa,” re-
spectively. This’ confirms that what we obtained is a solution
Yao-Xiong Huang
for the combination of all the cases. In other words, our,
expressions for wave four vectors, the modified law of re-
flection and Snell’s law, the reflected and transmitted wave
field vectors, and the reflection and transmission coefficients,
can cover all the cases in which the medium is moving uni-
formly with an arbitrary velocity; thus, it can be taken as the
general solution for the problem.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported in part by the Chinese National
Science foundation and an award for Chinese Outstanding
Young Professors from Chinese National Education Commit-
tee. The author would like to thank Q. C. Ho for some dis-
cussions on the subject, and F. H. Huang for the drawing.
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aA. Sommerfeld, Opfik, 2nd ed. (Akademische, Leipzig, 1959).
3C. T. Tai, URSI Spring Meeting, Washington, DC, 1965.
J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 76, No. 5, 1 September 1994
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4C. Yeh, J. Appl. Phys. 36, 3513 (1965).
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Yao-Xiong Huang 2581