Module 4 : Uniform Plane Wave

Lecture 28 : Uniform Plane Wave in a Conducting Media

Objectives

In this course you will learn the following

Dielectric medium with finite conductivity.

Concept of complex dielectric constant.

What is a conductor and dielectric?

Wave equation for a dielectric medium for a finite conductivity.

The complex propagation constant for a medium with finite conductivity.

Loss Tangent.
Module 4 : Uniform Plane Wave

Lecture 28 : Uniform Plane Wave in a Conducting Media

Concept of complex permitivity

Let us consider a medium with finite conductivity, we have the conductivity of the medium is non-zero and finite.

The medium has conduction as well as displacement currents

Conduction current density is

where is the conductivity of the medium.

Displacement current density for a sinosidal electrical field is

The total current density is

The ampere's law therefore gives

Rewriting the equation, we get

the quantity in the curly brackets is the dielectric constant of a medium which has finite conductivity

NOTE
The dielectic constant of a medium which has conductivity is therefore a complex quantity.
Module 4 : Uniform Plane Wave

Lecture 28 : Uniform Plane Wave in a Conducting Media

What is a Conductor and Dielectric?

The ratio of the conduction and displacement current densities for a given electric field decides whether the medium is a
conductor or a dielectirc

This means the absolute value of conductivity is not very meaningful in calling a medium good conductor.

Any medium with finite conductivity behaves like a conductor as we reduce the frequency and behaves more like a
dielectric if we increase the frequency.

Generally, we call copper( which has a conductivity ) a good conductor because it behaves like a

conductor upto frequency of Hz.

Whereas, a medium like sea water which has a conductivity of can behave like a conductor only below
100KHz.
Module 4 : Uniform Plane Wave

Lecture 28 : Uniform Plane Wave in a Conducting Media

Propogation constant of a uniform plane wave in conducting medium

The wave equation for the conducting medium is

The propogation constant of the uniform plane wave in this medium is

Separation of real and imaginary parts gives attenuation constant

And the Phase Constant

Loss-Tangent
Loss-Tangent is the tangent of the phase of complex dielectirc constant of the medium

Loss tangent is a measure of loss in a good dielectric. For ideal lossless dielectric, the loss tangent is zero and for a good
dielectric the loss tangent is
 Module 4 : Uniform Plane Wave

Lecture 28 : Uniform Plane Wave in a Conducting Media

Recap

In this course you have learnt the following

Dielectric medium with finite conductivity.

Concept of complex dielectric constant.

What is a conductor and dielectric?

Wave equation for a dielectric medium for a finite conductivity.

The complex propagation constant for a medium with finite conductivity.

Loss Tangent.