Electromagnetic wave
This program can be used to view the direction and phase of the electromagnetic fields of plane electromagnetic waves. By combining two linearly polarized waves that propagate in the same or opposite direction, both travelling and standing waves can be examined. Circularly and elliptically polarized waves can be generated by phase-shifting the two waves relative to each other. The three-dimensional perspective image can be rotated in all possible directions so that an optimum perspective for observing the wave propagation can be set.
Downloads
Operation
When the program starts, only one wave (wave 1) is active. If "Wave 2 active" is ticked, a second control panel appears with the parameters of the second wave. By switching the two partial waves on and off, you can see how they contribute to the overall wave. At the bottom left, you can tick the box "Draw vectors" to make the field directions particularly easy to recognize. For each of the two partial waves, the polarization direction can be rotated, the amplitude can be changed and the phase can be shifted by 90°. If the wave number vector kx is positive, the wave runs in the positive x-direction and if kx is negative, it runs in the negative x-direction.
The image can be rotated around various axes using the sliders next to and below the image. In the "Draw vectors" setting, the areas between the field vectors are displayed in yellow or blue and illuminated at an angle. The two sliders directly above the image are used to align this lighting. The top slider is for zooming the image.