Tuesday, 18 February 2020

electromagnetism - Does the direction of propagation of the natural light is perpendicular to the direction of electric and magnetic field making up natural light?



I know that the direction of propagation of the wave(light) is perpendicular to the direction of electric and magnetic field in the situation of plane waves. And I want to know the relation between the direction of propagation and field in the situation of natural light.



Answer



Your text is rather muddled, but to answer the question: the Poynting vector is normally in the direction of propagation, which is to say the E and B fields are perpendicular to the direction of prop. This is always true in a vacuum, but it turns out that in various materials, the Poynting vector can be off-axis.



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