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The electromagnetic wave equation is a second-order partial differential equation that describes the propagation of electromagnetic waves through a medium or in a vacuum. It is a three-dimensional form of the wave equation. The homogeneous form of the equation, written in terms of either the electric field E or the magnetic field B, takes the form:
By recording the attenuation of light for various wavelengths, an absorption spectrum can be obtained. In physics, absorption of electromagnetic radiation is how matter (typically electrons bound in atoms) takes up a photon's energy—and so transforms electromagnetic energy into internal energy of the absorber (for example, thermal energy). [1]
Frequency-dependent attenuation of electromagnetic radiation in standard atmosphere In many cases, attenuation is an exponential function of the path length through the medium. In optics and in chemical spectroscopy , this is known as the Beer–Lambert law .
Electromagnetic radiation is commonly referred to as "light", EM, EMR, or electromagnetic waves. [2] The position of an electromagnetic wave within the electromagnetic spectrum can be characterized by either its frequency of oscillation or its wavelength. Electromagnetic waves of different frequency are called by different names since they have ...
An electromagnetic wave propagating in the +z-direction is conventionally described by the equation: (,) = [()], where E 0 is a vector in the x-y plane, with the units of an electric field (the vector is in general a complex vector, to allow for all possible polarizations and phases);
Maxwell's equations may be combined to demonstrate how fluctuations in electromagnetic fields (waves) propagate at a constant speed in vacuum, c (299 792 458 m/s [2]). Known as electromagnetic radiation, these waves occur at various wavelengths to produce a spectrum of radiation from radio waves to gamma rays.
In telecommunications, the term attenuation constant, also called attenuation parameter or attenuation coefficient, is the attenuation of an electromagnetic wave propagating through a medium per unit distance from the source. It is the real part of the propagation constant and is measured in nepers per metre.
For electromagnetic waves in vacuum, the angular frequency is proportional to the wavenumber: =. This is a linear dispersion relation, in which case the waves are said to be non-dispersive. [1] That is, the phase velocity and the group velocity are the same: