1. Edward C. Jordan Memorial Offering of the First Course under the Indo-US Inter-University Collaborative Initiative in Higher Education and Research: Electromagnetics for Electrical and Computer Engineering by
Nannapaneni Narayana Rao
Edward C. Jordan Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, Illinois, USA
Amrita Viswa Vidya Peetham, Coimbatore
July 10 – August 11, 2006

2. Polarization of Sinusoidally
3.6
Polarization of Sinusoidally
Time-Varying Fields

3. Polarization is the characteristic which describes how the position of the tip of the vector varies with time.
Linear Polarization:
Tip of the vector
describes a line.
Circular Polarization:
describes a circle.

4. Elliptical Polarization: Tip of the vector describes an ellipse.
(i) Linear Polarization
Linearly polarized in the x direction.
Direction remains
along the x axis
Magnitude varies
sinusoidally with time

5. Direction remains
along the y axis
Magnitude varies
sinusoidally with time
Linearly polarized in the y direction.
If two (or more) component linearly polarized vectors are in phase, (or in phase opposition), then their sum
vector is also linearly polarized.
Ex:

6. (ii) Circular Polarization
If two component linearly polarized vectors are
(a) equal to amplitude
(b) differ in direction by 90˚
(c) differ in phase by 90˚,
then their sum vector is circularly polarized.

7. Example:

8. (iii) Elliptical Polarization
In the general case in which either of (i) or (ii) is not satisfied, then the sum of the two component linearly polarized vectors is an elliptically polarized vector.
Ex:

9. Example:

10. 1.5-
D3.17
F1 and F2 are equal in amplitude (= F0) and differ in direction by 90˚. The phase difference (say f) depends on z in the manner –2pz – (–3pz) = pz.
(a) At (3, 4, 0), f = p(0) = 0.
(b) At (3, –2, 0.5), f = p(0.5) = 0.5 p.

11. (c) At (–2, 1, 1), f = p(1) = p.
(d) At (–1, –3, 0.2) = f = p(0.2) = 0.2p.