Electromagnetic Radiation

Book excerpt: Electromagnetic Radiation is a graduate level book on classical electrodynamics with a strong emphasis on radiation. This book is meant to quickly and efficiently introduce students to the electromagnetic radiation science essential to a practicing physicist. While a major focus is on light and its interactions, topics in radio frequency radiation, x-rays, and beyond are also treated. Special emphasis is placed on applications, with many exercises and problems. The format of the book is designed to convey the basic concepts in a mathematically rigorous manner, but with detailed derivations routinely relegated to the accompanying side notes or end of chapter "Discussions". The book is composed of four parts: Part I is a review of basic E&M (electricity and magnetism), and presents a concise review of topics covered in the subject. Part II addresses the origins of radiation in terms of time variations of charge and current densities within the source, and presents Jefimenko's field equations as derived from retarded potentials. Part III introduces special relativity and its deep connection to Maxwell's equations, together with an introduction to relativistic field theory, as well as the relativistic treatment of radiation from an arbitrarily accelerating charge. A highlight of this part is a chapter on the still partially unresolved problem of radiation reaction on an accelerating charge. Part IV treats the practical problems of electromagnetic radiation interacting with matter, with chapters on energy transport, scattering, diffraction and finally an illuminating, application-oriented treatment of fields in confined environments.