Wave propagation

Wave propagation is any of the ways in which waves travel.

With respect to the direction of the oscillation relative to the propagation direction, we can distinguish between longitudinal wave and transverse waves.

For electromagnetic waves, propagation may occur in a vacuum as well as in a material medium. Other wave types cannot propagate through a vacuum and need a transmission medium to exist.

Wave velocity

Further information: phase velocity, group velocity, and signal velocity

File:Seismic wave prop mine.gif

Seismic wave propagation in 2D modelled using FDTD method in the presence of a landmine

Wave velocity is a general concept, of various kinds of wave velocities, for a wave's phase and speed concerning energy (and information) propagation. The phase velocity is given as:

$v_p = \frac{\omega}{k},$

where:

• v_p is the phase velocity (in meters per second, m/s),
• ω is the angular frequency (in radians per second, rad/s),
• k is the wavenumber (in radians per meter, rad/m).

The phase speed gives you the speed at which a point of constant phase of the wave will travel for a discrete frequency. The angular frequency ω cannot be chosen independently from the wavenumber k, but both are related through the dispersion relationship:

$\omega = \Omega(k).\,$

In the special case Ω(k) = ck, with c a constant, the waves are called non-dispersive, since all frequencies travel at the same phase speed c. For instance electromagnetic waves in vacuum are non-dispersive. In case of other forms of the dispersion relation, we have dispersive waves. The dispersion relationship depends on the medium through which the waves propagate and on the type of waves (for instance electromagnetic, sound or water waves).

The speed at which a resultant wave packet from a narrow range of frequencies will travel is called the group velocity and is determined from the gradient of the dispersion relation:

$v_g = \frac{\partial \omega}{\partial k}$

In almost all cases, a wave is mainly a movement of energy through a medium. Most often, the group velocity is the velocity at which the energy moves through this medium.

See also

• Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)
• Antenna theory
• Diffraction
• Huygens–Fresnel principle
• Photon
• Polarization (waves)
• Radio propagation
• Reflection (physics)
• Refraction
• Scattering
• Wave

External links

• A matlab toolbox for seismic wave propagation at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
• Animation How an electromagnetic wave propagates through a vacuum
• Propagation of sound waves