Mechanics

Overview

Waves

To be covered:

There are a number of sections to the Mechanics course:

Oscillations and waves revision

1. Oscillations, normal modes and Waves in 3D

Superposition of oscillations

2. Mechanics introduction

Coupled oscillators & normal modes

3. Central forces and orbits

The 3D wave equation

4. Mechanics in non-inertial frames

Goals:

5. Many-particle systems

Understand the general nature of harmonic motion

6. Rigid body motion

Become familiar with the concept of normal

modes of oscillation

7. Interference
8. Diraction (qualitative treatment)

Understand origin of the wave equation

Recognise and be able to apply the wave equation in 3D

1.1

The Simple Harmonic Oscillator:

The one dimensional simple harmonic oscillator has

a number of properties - recall that
m + kx = 0
x
=

k
m

E =T +V =

1
1
mx2 + x2

2
2

In addition, a forced SHO will always oscillate at the

driving frequency, independent of natural frequency;
and a forced, damped SHO will exhibit resonant
behaviour
The general solution to the motion is:
x = Re Aei(t+)
1

(1)

Figure 2

show that
a2 = a2 + a2 + 2a1 a2 cos(1 2 )
r
1
2

Figure 1

tan(r ) =
this can also be written as:
x = A cos(t) + B sin(T )

a1 sin(1 ) + a2 sin(2 )
a1 cos(1 ) + a2 cos(2 )

For excitations of unequal frequencies we normally

obtain complicated response. When the excitations
are close in frequency this response beats.

(2)

where T is the time period.

Ex 1.2
Note that x can be any physical quantity - disShow that for two equal-amplitude excitations of
placement, electric eld, angle, current, pressure etc.
close frequency:
It is useful to use phasor diagrams to visualise the
addition of oscillations

xr = 2a cos

1.3
1.2

Superposition of Oscillations

1 + 2
.t cos
2

1 2
.t
2

Coupled Pendula

Oscillators become couple, meaning that energy can

be shared between the two pendula and the motion
becomes more complicated than that of independent
oscillation

Systems are often subject to more than one excitation. For a linear system, displacement is the combination of the corresponding Simple Harmonic Motions (although some complex or heavily driven systems are not in linear response). The total response
under two excitations has the form:

Ex 1.3
Write down the coupled equations of motion of each
pendulum. Denote the displacements of the bobs as
xr = x1 +x2 = a1 cos(1 t+1 )+a2 cos(2 t+2 ) (3) x, y.

For excitations of equal frequency, the frequency

response is the same as the excitations.

The motion of each pendulum depends on the

positions of both.
We can introduce two new
coordinates to untangle this:

Ex 1.1
2

Ex 1.4
Show that the coupled motion reduces to Simple Harmonic Motion in the coordinates:

ber of modes tends to be related to the degrees of

freedom of the system. For example:
Two masses connected by three springs in 1D is
equivalent to the coupled pendulums, N=2;

X = x + y; Y = x y
For this combined oscillation, each mode acts
like an independent oscillator with its own frequency.
Note that the energy is transferred between the pendulums over time, but not between the modes. The
combined motion (for our tuned system) is subject
to beating. The frequency of each pendulum is the
average of the pendulum, and the spring natural frequency is modulated. This works because we tuned
the spring and pendulum constants to be close.

1.4

Figure 3

Three masses connected by two springs in 1D will

have two normal modes, N=2.

Normal Modes

We want a general way of analysing the motion of

a coupled system. We can write down the normal
coordinates for which equations of motion look like
SHM. These are functions of the physical coordinates
Figure 4
of the system. Each coordinate has its own normal
mode, with a characteristic frequency. All the
components of the system will vibrate with this
frequency and we can identify these frequencies by
Three masses connected by four springs in 1D will
looking for resonance behaviour. The overall motion
have three normal modes, N=3.
of each component is a superposition of normal
modes. The instantaneous energy of each component
may vary with time.
For the energy of the system, each mode is
independent in that no energy is shared between the
normal modes. We can populate several modes with
energy at t = 0 or we can set initial conditions to
excite only some normal modes.

Figure 5

For coupled pendulums:

m
2
2

E = EX + EY = [X 2 + 0 X 2 + Y 2 + s Y 2 ]
2
In general, each excited mode contributes independently to the total energy of the system.

Ex 1.5
What are the normal modes of vibration of the CO2
molecule?

Real systems can be approximated by systems of

coupled oscillators with large N. In quantum systems,
1.5 Degrees of Freedom
phonon modes correspond to classical normal modes.
A simple pendulum will have one mode. Coupled These are separate modes of excitation which can
pendulums will have two modes. In general, the num- travel as waves without cross-coupling.
3

1.6

Another Example:
Pendula

Compound the system, and comparing the solution in part (b),

nd the normal mode frequencies.

A2 (16 marks). A double pendulum (see diagram)

consists of two identical point masses, suspended via
light inexible rods of length l.

(d) (2 marks)
Describe an experimental technique that could
be used to directly measure the normal mode
frequencies.

1.7

Large N Systems

Imagine a massless string under a tension, T with N

equal masses a distance d apart

Figure 7

Ex 1.6
Show that the transverse restoring force on the nth
mass is given by:

Figure 6

T
(yn1 2yn + yn+1 )
yn =

(a) (3 marks)
md
Explain briey what is meant by a normal mode of
The system comprises of a set of N coupled oscila vibrating system, and sketch the normal modes of
lators
the double pendulum.
T
(b) (5 marks)
0 =
md
Using the small angle approximation, and noting that
We expect to nd N normal models with N
the masses are subject to forces both due to gravity
and the tension in the rods, show that the coupled normal frequencies
equations of motion of the two masses can be written
j
as:
j =
N +1

1 = g (21 2 ) 1 + 2 = g 2
Ex 1.7
l
l
What are the modes of the system for N = 2
(c) (6 marks) The normal coordinates of the system Ex 1.8
have the general form:
Show that for large N, the behaviour of the system
is described by
1 + k2
an = C sin(nj )
Where k has a dierent value for each mode. By
2
2
j = 20 (1 cos j )
writing down the most general equation of motion of
4

1.9

Systems with large N will have a minimum frequency where all are in phase (Fig. 8)

Waves in 3D

We will often use harmonic waves (waves of a single

frequency component) due to their simplicity and the
knowledge that any disturbance is a superposition of
harmonic waves (from Fourier analysis). The general
expression for a disturbance at a 1D position, x, due
to a harmonic wave is

Figure 8

(x, t) = Aei(kxt)
and a maximum frequency with alternating phases
(Fig. 9)
where k is the wave number, related to wavelength
by k = 2 such that v =

k
In 2D and 3D, we can replace the wave number by
a wave vector:
(x, y) = Aeik .r t

Figure 9

for plane waves, the wave vector points in the direction of propagation and has magnitude,

1.8

The Wave Equation

2
2
2
|k | = (kx + ky + kz )

We want to know what happens when N . We

can attempt to model this behaviour as a continuous Note that we are only concerned with the real part
here. Later in QM we will need the full complex wave
system by replacing with
The 3D wave equation is therefore:
yr y(x, t) yr

2 y(x,y)
t2

yr1 y(x x, t)

Ex 1.9
Show that these replacements lead to

1 2
v 2 t2

where the Laplacian operator is

2 y
T 2 y
=
t
x2

(4)
2

2
x2

+ y2 + z2

It should be noted that plane harmonic waves are

an idealisation. In actuality there is no such thing
as a plane, harmonic or spherical wave.

where is the mass density since m 0

Just like in 1D, any wave pulse can propagate:
(x, y, z, t) = f (x + y + z vt), ie an arbitrary,
non-harmonic, non-plane wave-function is still a
solution of the wave equation. A useful idealisation
in 2D and 3D is the harmonic (plane/spherical)
wave.
A harmonic spherical wave is given by
(r, t) = A cos(k(r vt)) where the sign indir
cates movement away from the origin and + sign
indicates convergence. Irradience (power per unit
area per unit time) is given by I 2 a2 (r)v. We
automatically recover the inverse-square law for

This is known as the wave equation and should be

familiar from last years course. It applies to a very
wide range of physical systems, not just to strings.
The solution is any function y = f (x vt). This
function represents a wave pulse which propagates
along the positive or negative x direction. v is the
phase velocity in the medium for a monochromatic
wave. Note that the equation is linear and thus any
superposition of wave pulses = y1 + y2 + ... + yn is
a solution and will travel as a wave.
5

 3D transverse waves can be polarised so that displacement is in a xed direction

outward propagating spherical waves.

Transverse 3D waves can have their displacement
in an arbitrary direction that is always perpendicular
to the direction of motion. A wave for which the
oscillation is conned to a particular direction is
polarised. Any (complete) polarisation can be described as a linear combination of orthogonal states.
This is a very general concept, also used to describe
the motion of particles with a spin direction.

1.10

Summary

Oscillations:
Very general behaviour of a wide range of physical systems
Superposition of close-frequency oscillations can
lead to beating

Normal modes:
Systems of coupled oscillators can undergo complicated motions
These are always separable into independent
normal modes of oscillation
The number of normal modes depends on the
number of degrees of freedom
For very large d.o.f. we obtain characteristic behaviour

Wave motion:
The limiting case of coupled oscillators, for a
continuous medium
Arbitrary waves can propagate in 1D, 2D and
3D media
Often useful to build up arbitrary waves from
plane spherical, harmonic waves
3D spherical waves obey the inverse-square law

Mechanics

2.2

Vector Operators

For a good summary of vector operators see Appendix A from K & B

Overview
To be covered:

The vector products:

Vectors and coordinate systems

Newtons Laws for particle motion

The scalar (or dot) product, a .b ab cos which

gives a projection of b onto a in the form of a
scalar, such that if a b then a.b = 0

Energy

The Vector (or cross) product, |a b | ab sin

which is a vector at 90 to a and b following the
right hand rule. As such, if a b then a b = 0

Angular momentum
Conserved quantities

We can also dierentiate and integrate vectors as with

Goals:

dr

a scalar, but note that dr = | dt |.

dt
Revise the mathematical tools required for the There are a number of vector eld operators. Most
notably, the Grad operator dierentiates with recourse
spect to a direction:
Revise particle mechanics

Formally dene a conservative potential

i+ j+ k
x
y
z

This can operate on a scalar eld (grad) or a vector

eld (curl/div)

2.1

2.3

Vectors

Choice of Coordinate System

We are used to working in the Right Handed orIn physics we often deal with vector quantities. Vec- thonormal Cartesian basis - The unit basis vectors
tor quantities have both a direction and magnitude are all at right angles and xed in space. This does
and are independent of the coordinate system used - not generally apply.
this means that we can choose the coordinate system
that is most convenient to make calculations in.
Other useful coordinate systems are:
There are a number of well dened transformations
Cylindrical polar coordinates with basis vectors
that apply to the components when we change
z
between these coordinate systems.
{r , In this system, basis vectors are instan, }.
taneously at right angles, but not xed
Some familiar vectors are the displacement, veloc Spherical polar coordinates with basis vectors
dr
d2 r

ity and acceleration: r ; v dt r ; a dt2 r .
{r , } where the basis vectors are neither at
,
Later we will also deal with force, momentum,
right angles or xed
angular momentum, angular velocity, torque etc.
Ex 2.1
show that a particles general velocity in 2D polar
Scalars(no direction) Vectors(1 direction)

Tensors (2+ directions)

coordinates is: v = rr+ r

The correct choice of coordinate system can greatly

Ex 2.3
simplify a problem
show that motion under a 1D force F(x) leads to
conservation of overall energy
Ex 2.2
Write down the velocity vector of an ant walking
from the inside to the outside of a rotating turntable
at constant linear speed. Use polar, then Cartesian
More generally, a conservative force must obey
coordinates.
F = 0 which is equivalent to stating that a
potential dependant only on position exists

2.4

Newtons Laws

For conservative forces, T depends only on the

initial and nal x , and not on the path taken or on

Particles can be treated as idealised, point-like

masses. We will deal with the application to extended
bodies later.

x . Non-conservative forces also depend on velocity,

acceleration etc. for example with frictional forces
(non conservative macroscopically, but conservative
microscopically).

Law 1: Inertial Frames Exist

Two frames moving at a constant relative velocity are a pair of inertial frames. The laws of
Ex 2.4
mechanics are observed to be identical in both
Is the magnetic force a conservative force?
(although not in accelerating frames)
Law 2: Denes the dynamics of the system

Force is related to the change in momentum, p =

2.6

F , or equivalently F = ma

Angular Momentum

Law 3: Action and reaction are equal and opposite The angular momentum about the origin of a
For two particles, i and j, acting upon each other
via a force F ji = F ij . This immediately im- particle is dened as L = r p = r mr which is a
vector quantity.
plies the conservation of total momentum.

2.5

In analogy to linear momentum, the angular force

or torque is given as = r F

Energy

Newtons 2nd Law is in terms of the 2nd derivative

of position. To nd position we must (conceptually)
Ex 2.5
integrate twice with respect to time. This introduces Show that = L
two arbitrary constants into the motion: initial
position and initial velocity, or equivalently Initial
potential energy and initial kinetic energy.
Beware, a particle is point like and as such has no
rotational degree of freedom. It does however have
The kinetic energy is due to the velocity of the
p2
kinetic energy due to its linear momentum T = 2m .
particle, T (x) = 1 mv 2 .

2
The potential energy is due to the position of a An extended body has rotational kinetic energy
particle, F (x) = V (x ). If there is no dependence distinct from its linear motion as we will see later.

of the corresponding force on velocity, it may be

conservative.

Angular momentum is a conserved quantity. This

is not demonstrable solely from Newtons Laws
8

2.7

For conservative forces, the potential energy depends only on position

Newtons Laws and Conservation

Rules

For Newtons Laws to be applicable they must be

modied for large-scale (> planetary) motion as Conservation rules
with special relativity and also for small scale (
Momentum, the total energy and angular moatomic) motion as with quantum mechanics.
mentum are conserved quantities
The Conservation Laws are generally held to be
deeper than Newtons Laws and appear (so far) to
hold true for all scales. The conservation laws stem
from symmetries in the laws of nature:
conservation of energy invariance of the laws in
time
Conservation of momentum invariance of the laws
with position
Conservation of angular momentum invariance of
the laws with angle

In an isolated system, they do not change with

time

Another approach to mechanics is the Lagrangian

/ Hamiltonian formalism which can make these
symmetries explicit.

Summary
Physical quantities are often vectors
Which we can manipulate according to welldened rules
Not tied to a single coordinate system, they have
a reality of their own

Newtons Laws
1. Inertial systems exist, and observers will agree
on the dynamics in them
2. Particle motion is governed by forces, which may
be conservative
3. Momentum is conserved when particles interact
Energy
The kinetic energy of a particle depends only on
its velocity

Central Forces

3.2

Keplers Laws

Law 1: Planets move in ellipses, with the Sun at

one focus.
Most planets in our solar system have very low
eccentricity.

Overview
To be Covered
The nature of central forces

Law 2: The orbit covers equal areas in equal time.

This is dened as the area swept out by a line
connecting planet and sun. It implies a change
in tangential speed around the orbit.

The 3D simple harmonic oscillator

Two-body motion
Conservation laws + the eective 1D potential

Law 3: The period depends on the orbit major axis

T 2 A3

The inverse-square law, orbits and scattering

Goals:
Understand the general applicability of central
force motion
Be able to perform calculations on orbits and
scattering
Understand how an eective potential can be
used to model a system

Figure 11

3.3

Central Forces

A force existing between two particles is equal and

opposite (From Newtons 3rd Law). If this force
always acts along a relative displacement vector, it is
3.1 Prologue: Conic Sections
a central force: F = k(r1 r2 ). We can also consider
Conic sections are essentially the 2D curves of inter- external central forces which always act towards
section of a plane with a right circular cone. They the same point and treat this point as innitely
can be classied as a circle, ellipse, parabola or hyper- massive.
bola. The general polar equation of a conic section
is
Many familiar forces are central forces, such as:
r0
r=
(5)
1 cos
The restoring force in an oscillator
wjere r0 is related to the size, and is the eccentricity
The gravitational force
The electrostatic force

Examples of non-central forces include the magnetic force and, in general, any force depending upon
velocity such as friction, air resistance etc.

3.4

Figure 10

3d Simple Harmonic Oscillator

The 3D Simple Harmonic Oscillator can be visualised

as a particle attached, via an elastic string, to an
immovable point at the origin. The linear restoring
10

force is central since it always points towards the

origin: F = mr = kr . The particle is free to move

This dictates that at all times, r F = 0. The

angular momentum vector is normal to the plane of
the motion.

in 3D, with initial position and velocity, r0 , r 0 .

This oscillator has the general solution
r = c cos(t) + d sin(t)

(6)

These rules are true for any central force motion,

though there are no stable orbits for most potentials
(This is obvious for repulsive forces but can also be
more subtle as in Bertrands Theorem)

or, writing the solution along each axis:

ri = ci cos(t) + di sin(t).
Note, we could 3.6 Two-Body Motion
also use r = Aeit + Beit , but NOT anything like
But what about Newtons 3rd law? The previous
r = a cos(t ).
example is only realistic in the limit of an innitely
massive central body. The central particle will feel
Ex 3.1
Show that this motion is conned to a plane dened an equal and opposite force, and two nite-mass
particles with an acting central force will orbit
by its initial position and velocity.
around each other.
What shape is the path taken by the particle?
We can rewrite the two-body equation of motion in
Ex 3.2
terms of relative displacement (r = r1 r2 ), and the
Show that angular momentum and energy are
(m1 r +m2 r )
conserved
1
2
centre of mass position: (R =
). Recall
m1 +m2
that the motion of the centre of mass is independent
There are a few key points about this motion that of the internal motions. It makes sense to work in
are generally true of any central motion:

the centre of mass frame, such that R = R = 0.

The energy is a conserved quantity - the central
force is conservative

This reduces the two-body problem to a one-body

one. The motion is identical to that of a single par The angular momentum is a conserved quantity ticle of reduced mass, with position r , moving under
a central force with potential V (r)
The orbit is a conic section (ellipse), dened by
the initial parameters
m1 m2
reduced mass = =
(7)
m1 + m2

3.5

General Central Force Motion

Ex 3.3
In general, the motion is in a xed plane. This Show that this is the case.
reduces our 3D problem to a 2D one. The orbit is
dened in the plane by scalar variables r and .
We have therefore made the two-body, 3D central
force problem into a single body, 2D problem. UnforSince the force is conservative, the energy is a con- tunately there is no such short-cut for the three-body
stant that uctuates between kinetic and potential problem.
energy, depending on r. We can check this formally
by showing that
F = 0. The motion is gov3.7 Energy Diagrams
erned by the nature of the associated potential, V (r).
The main features of this motion can be seen on an
Angular momentum is also conserved because energy diagram (Fig. 12) which shows the limits on
there is never any sideways force on the particle. the radial motion of the particle (V (r)
11

leqE and kinetic energy, T = 0 at these points). The 3.9 The Eective Potential
equilibrium points are at V (r) > 0 and are stable if
The angular momentum (a constant) of the orbiting
V (r) > 0
particle is given by:

l = rr = r2
Which means the Kinetic Energy can be written:
T =
Figure 12

3.8

1 2
1
1
1 l2

v = (r2 + r2 2 ) = r2 +

2
2
2
2 r2

We can now write the total energy to be:

An Aside: Small Oscillations

E =T +V =

Recall the Taylor expansion of V (r) is

1 2 1 l2
r +

+ V (r)
2
2 r2

(8)

The term in l only depends on r, and therefore we

(x xmin )2 absorb it into V (r) (referred to as the centrifucan+...
f (x) = |f (xmin )+f (xmin )(xxmin )+f (xmin )
2! gal potential). We now have a 1D motion under an
For a suciently small x, we can approximate any eective potential:
function as a parabolic potential, where we can set
V (0) = 0, and at the minimum V (0) = 0. Thus
V (x) =

Vef f ective (r) =

1 l2
+ Vcentral (r)
2 r2

(9)

1
k(x xmin )2
2

This now represents the energy associated with the

tangential orbital motion. It increases as the orbital
Any potential looks like a simple harmonic poten- radius decreases. This centrifugal barrier prevents
tial close up. Harmonic motion (under a central the orbit from collapsing until the potential energy,
force) is a very general principle.
V 0.
Ex 3.4
Atoms in a 3D lattice (Fig. 13)

3.10

The Inverse-Square Case

The inverse square law is:

k
F (r) = r2 ; V (r) = k ; V () = 0
r

For the gravitational force, k is negative:

k = Gm1 m2 , and for the electrostatic force it
1
can be positive or negative: k = 4 0 q1 q2 .
The eective potential is:
Vef f ective (r) =

Figure 13

1 l2
k
+
2
2 r
r

By comparing the orbital energy with the potential

we can identify four dierent regimes depending on
the available energy:
12

E > 0: The body is free and can obtain an arbitrary radius (hyperbolic - > 1)
(Note, there is still a minimum radius imposed
by the centrifugal barrier potential for non-zero
l)

Write down the relation between r and t from:

2
r2 = (E Vef f ective (r))

E = 0: The body just

(parabolic - = 1)

The orbit equation is then:

has

escape

Integrate (moderately tricky) to get r as a function of that is independent of t

velocity

r0
1 cos
l2
r0 =
|k|
r=

E < 0: The body is conned within a maximum and

a minimum radius (ellipse - 0 < < 1)
E = Emin The body has a xed radius (circle - = 0)

=
Ex 3.5
Calculate the Earths escape velocity

2El2
k 2

Typically we cannot measure E or l directly. More

usual measurements are for the orbital velocity, v,
and the orbital period, T .

Ex 3.6
Comet is 0.5AU from sun at perihelion, and has
50km/s orbital speed; will it ever come back?

3.11

1+

Ex 3.7
A satellite orbiting the earth (2000kg) has maximum
and minimum distances from the surface of 4100km
and 1100km respectively.
What are its energy
and angular momentum? How fast is it going at
perigee(furthest point)?

Gravitational Energy Diagram

The exact shape of the energy level diagram will depends on the relative size of terms (Fig. 14)

Ex 3.8
Try the orbit simulator at <http://www.ist.edu.
pk/upload/OrSim1.html>
Or try ying in orbit yourself (not easy): <http:
//orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk>

3.13

Back to Keplers Laws

Looking back at Keplers Laws:

Law 1: Planets move in ellipses, with the Sun at
one focus.

Figure 14

Law 2:

3.12

The orbit covers equal areas in equal time.

The Orbit Equation

To calculate the orbital shape:

Write down explicit relation between r and from:

l = r2

13

We can use the relation da = 1 r2 d to show

2
l

that a = 1 r2 = 2m . Keplers 2nd law is a

2
direct consequence of the conservation of angular
momentum under a central force

Law 3: The period depends on the orbit major axis and a < 0 for hyperbolas).
?
See problems for this. Note that Keplers 3rd law
Ex 2.8.1
is not exact - T depends weakly on the planets Show that
mass
1
1
/2
!/2
GM
2r2
v =
1
Is this all physically realistic? Well, not really. The
r1
r1 + r2
sun and planets are not point-like, nor spherical or
1
/2
even of uniform density. The deviations from ellipGM
2r1
v =
[1
tical orbits are not large (though they are measurr2
r1 + r2
able), and become important for calculating satellite
orbits. In addition, there are more than two bodies
in the solar system. The presence of outer planets
was rst deduced from perturbations in the orbit of
Jupiter and Saturn. The overall is also not strictly
conservative, for example, comets can be captured
and destroyed.

3.14

/2

Orbital Manoeuvres

Moving from one orbit to another is a complex

optimisation problem in time and energy. For closed
co-planar orbits, the basic solution is the Hohmann
Transfer Orbit.
To make the manoeuvre:
Figure 15

1. Start in a circular orbit of radius r1

2. Change the velocity to enter an elliptical orbit

3.15

Inverse-Square Scattering

3. Change the velocity again after a time t to enter We now turn to the electrostatic case. For a negative
a circular orbit of radius r2
k, the problem is analogous to the gravitational case
(although it should be noted that in atoms E and l
In practise, nite accelerations mean that real
are quantised ). If k is positive however, we have a
orbits are less energy-ecient and take longer - big
have a repulsive force between the like charges. This
thrusters are good.
means that only a hyperbolic orbit is possible.
To work out the change in velocity, v, we need to
use the Vis Viva equation:

For this case we will use the impact parameter,

b, the scattering angle, , and initial energy, E0 as
shown in Fig. 16. By observing the distribution as
1 1

(10) a function of E for a range of b we can nd out about

v 2 = 2GM
0
r
a
the size of the scattering body and the shape of the
Where v is the relative speed of the two bodies, r is potential. This is the principle tool for investigating
the distance between the two bodies, M is the mass the structure of very small bodies (e.g. fundamental
of the central body and a is the semi-major of the particles). A beam of scattered particles for a conorbit (a > 0 for ellipses, a = = 0 for parabolas, tinuous range of b is normally used.
14

Central forces:
Act along the line of separation of two bodies /
particles
Are conservative

Central force motion:

Always in a plane, set by initial conditions of
position and velocity
Conserves energy and angular momentum
Figure 16

3.16

Can be understood through an eective potential including the centrifugal barrier

Rutherford Experiment
Two-body motion:

Ex 3.9
Show scattering angle related to impact parameter:
|k|
b = 2E0 cot 1
2

Can be modelled as one-body system with reduced mass

Evidently, large scattering angles require very

close proximity.
Inverse-square law
The Rutherford experiment is as follows: 5MeV
alpha particles are incident on a sheet of gold foil.
A fraction of these undergo scattering at very large
angles (almost = ). This required an impact
parameter less than the radius of the atom and as
such the plum pudding model, prevalent at the
time, could not be correct.

For the attractive case (including gravity), closed

orbits are possible
Depending on the orbital energy, orbital shapes
are dierent conic sections
For the repulsive case (electrostatic), the orbit is
always a hyperbola
Can use scattering experiments to probe smallscale phenomena

Ex 3.10
Try this out at <http://www2.biglobe.ne.jp/
~norimari/science/JavaApp/e-Scatter.html>
When we increase E0 , the impact parameter is
also decreased for a given angle. For faster (accelerated) alpha particles the inverse-square law breaks
down. Relativistic quantum mechanics is required
to understand this phenomena and is the basis of
modern particle physics.

Summary

15

Non-Inertial Frames

cannot be rotating as rotation implies acceleration.

Overview

Some of the above assumptions are modied by

special relativity.

To be covered:
Transformations between reference frames

4.2

Fictitious forces

The Galilean Transformations

How would a measurement of displacement I take be

measured in a dierent frame to that where it was
taken? Taking t = 0 as the same in both frames, S is
the displacement between their origins. We can use
a common-sense transformation of r = r S.

Linearly accelerating frames and 2D and 3D rotating frames

The nature of angular velocity
The equivalence principle and the path to relativity

Goals:
Understand the nature of transformations between frames
Understand the equations of motion in a rotating
frame
Become familiar with the ideas of inertial equivalence and relativity

4.1

Inertial Frames
Figure 17

When dealing with reference frames, we must dene

a coordinate system and an origin for space and
For velocity and acceleration we simply dierentitime. We assume that units of distance and time
ate:
are the same in all frames (this is a non-trivial
assumption but will not be discussed here). It
r =r V
should be noted that a physical quantity could be
measured dierently in dierent frames.
r =r A
Newtons rst law states that the laws of physics
The force is the same only is the frames have a
(for example Newtons second law) are the same in
constant relative velocity. For accelerating frames the
all inertial frames. Any pair of inertial frames move
with a constant relative velocity. The relationship force will be measured dierently.
between force and momentum applies in any inertial
frame.
4.3 Accelerating Frames

This means that there is no zero velocity. You

cannot perform an experiment to tell if you are moving at a constant velocity so what would it be zero
in respect to? Furthermore, inertial reference frames

In accelerating frames we cannot simply apply

Newtons 2nd law if we assume that only physically real forces exist. We can instead account
for this dierence by introducing ctitious forces:

16

F f ict mA. These forces are not due to phys- 4.5 Tidal Forces
ical interactions, but account for the non-inertial
As distance is varied the gravitational force also
movement of the frame. They are real in the
changes. This leads to tidal forces on non-point-like
sense that you can detect and measure them. Note
bodies. The force is related to the dierential of force
that ctitious forces are always proportional to mass.
with distance: F tidal r13 .
The forces tend to change the shape of a exible body.
Ex 4.1
To the rst (and second) order, the volume of a uid
Evaluate furry dice (pendulum) in the frame of an
body remains constant however.
accelerating car.
Ex 4.2
Do the same for a cylinder on a moving platform.

Figure 18

4.4

Figure 19

The Equivalence Principle

What happens in a downward accelerating lift?

Gravity acts downwards and is proportional to mass.
A ctitious force acts upwards, also proportional
to mass. The resultant force on objects in the lifts
reference frame. If the lift happens to be in free-fall
(f f ict = g ) then zero gravity (a misnomer) is
experienced.
Ex 4.3
What is g in the orbiting space shuttle?
Ex 4.4
Show how an aircraft can simulate zero gravity
conditions.

Two tidal bulges move around the earth. Due to

the dierential gravity of the sun and the moon (with
the moon being dominant) the tidal period is related
to the orbital period of the moon and the earth. Note
that the tides observed at the shoreline are much
larger than those in the mid ocean (normally < 1m).

4.6

Forces on a Rotating Particle

When in a rotating frame it is natural to use polar

coordinates to describe the rotation. In 1 we saw
that in 2D polar coordinates:

v = rr+ r

Inertial mass and gravitational mass appear to be and for acceleration:

the same quantity. You cannot locally tell the dier

r = ( r2 )r+ (r + 2r)
r

ence between acceleration and gravity (although you
can globally since gravitational elds vary with position). This is known as the equivalence principle and (Note that this is general, and has nothing to do
pursuing this idea leads to general relativity.
with rotating frames - the extra forces apparent here

17

are real and not ctitious)

Interpreting these terms we have

as observed from a xed (inertial) frame. Recall that

for rotational motion, the velocity is perpendicular to
the displacement.

The acceleration along the radial direction, r

r

4.8

Rotating Frames

The acceleration along the tangential direction,

Rotating frames have a non-xed set of basis vectors

which rotate with time. A non-inertial particle at
rest in the rotating frame will be accelerating in an
2
The centripetal acceleration, r r
This is the familiar physical force which main- inertial frame.
tains circular motion, for example gravity keepThe rate of change of a vector depends on the refing the earth in orbit or the tension in a rope for
erence frame (since at rest means dierent things in
a whirling bucket
dierent frames). Taking an arbitrary vector mea The Coriolis acceleration, 2r

sured in a rotating frame, for example
This is a result of our use of polar coordinates to

i
j
b = bx + by + bz k
describe the inertial (Newtons 2nd Law) motion.
rot
rot
rot
When we change the radial distance or direction
such that
we implicitly alter the rotational speed.
db
dby
dbz
dbx
These same terms appear when we consider rotating
=
i +
j +
k
dt rot
dt rot
dt rot
dt rot
reference frames.

4.7

Angular Velocity

Ex 4.6
Show that the rate of change in an inertial frame
(since the rotating basis vectors themselves change

Pick up an object and dene axes through it. After

db
db
taking note of its initial orientation rotate it through with time) is dt
= dt
+ b.

in
rot
around the x axis, then the same around the y
2
axis. Now return the object to its original orientation
Now transforming the acceleration we get:
and try rotating through the y axis followed by the

arot = ain 2 v rot ( r ) r

x axis. Remember that the axes stay xed in space
and do not move with the object. You will nd
Acceleration measured in a rotating frame is equivthat the object ends up in two dierent orientations.
alent to the inertial acceleration plus ctitious forces.
Since vectors must commute, we therefore cannot
Note that the displacement vector does not depend
represent nite rotations by a vector.
on the frame. Whilst this equation might look scary
it represents three physically clear eects (we will
Ex 4.5
ignore the Euler force and instead deal only with
Show that innitesimal rotations will commute.
frames with constant angular velocity). They are:
Angular velocity is a perfectly reasonable vector:
4.9 Centrifugal Force

= x+ y+ z k It has a direction that points

i
j
.
along the axis of rotation, such that the rotation is The centrifugal force term is given to be
clockwise if you look from the origin. The position
acentrif ugal = ( r )
and velocity of a point in a rotating system are related

by: r = r . This applies to the physical rotation It points outwards from the rotation axis, dependant
of an extended body or to a point in a rotating frame upon speed and position. Since centrifugal force
18

is a ctitious force, it is only a valid concept in a

rotating frame. It can, however, still do work in the
same way as any other force.

The Foucault pendulum is a slow moving demonstration of the Coriolis eect. The plane of motion
of a simple pendulum rotates as the Earth moves
(i.e. it stays xed, whereas we dont)

There are many everyday examples of centrifugal

force since we live in a rotating reference frame

Air falling into low-pressure areas tends to rotate

as with cyclones and trade winds.

Ex 4.7
Does a plumb line actually point towards the earths
centre? we actually measure g = g ( r ),
but note that the Earths solid surface is also not
horizontal.

Summary
Non-inertial frames
Newtons 2nd Law only applies directly in inertial
frames

Ex 4.8
What is the shape of the surface of a rotating liquid? Can you think of a practical application of this?
What is the water rotating with respect to?

4.10

Motion in accelerating frames is subject to ctitious forces

These forces are real in that they can do work
(i.e. be measured)

Coriolis Force

The Coriolis force term is given as

All rotating frames are non-inertial we live in

one

aCoriolis = 2 v rot

It is perpendicular to both the rotation axis and the Rotation

velocity (in the rotating frame) - i.e. it is a sideways
General rotations do not commute
force on a moving object in a rotating frame. Linear
motion in the inertial frame will appear circular in
Angular velocity is a vector quantity, points
the rotating frame.
along rotation axis

4.11

The rate of change of a vector depends on the

reference frame

Coriolis Force Eects

When applied to motion on the earth, the Coriolis

eect has a number of clear inuences.

Rotating reference frames

Ex 4.9
Why will a falling object land to the east of where
you would expect?

Subject to two (three in accelerating systems)

ctitious forces

The Coriolis eect depends on velocity and will

most obviously aect fast objects moving over long
distances. For example, aircraft and artillery have
the eect built into their navigation systems. (What
about water down a plug hole? - see the problems
sheet)

19

Centrifugal force: acts outwards from axis, depends on position and velocity
Coriolis force: acts sideways to direction of
travel
Many important (and also unimportant) eects
depend on the Earths rotation

Many Particle Systems

5.2

Centre of Mass

The motion of the system as a whole depends only

upon the external systems

Overview
To be covered:

Ex 5.1

Translation and rotation of a system of particles Show that for the system P = F ext where P =
Angular momentum of a rigid body

Pi

Ex 5.2

Moment of inertia about an xed axis

Show that M R = P if R =

Combined translation and rotation

Goals:
Understand basic dynamics of extended bodies
Understand separation of translational and rotational motion
Understand separation of orbital and spin angular momentum
Be able to calculate moments of inertia of symmetrical rigid bodies

mi r
i
mi

This vector is the position of the centre of mass.

The translational motion can be described by the
equation of motion of a single particle at this point.
Note that if there are no external forces then the
overall momentum is always conserved.
Ex 5.3
A missile is launched, but explodes into three equal
parts during ight. One carries on in same direction
with half the speed again, others leave at right-angles
to each other with what speed?

This is not the whole story. Forces acting on the

system are, of course, not the same as a single particle
(The inverse-square force on a spherical body is a
Our approach so far has been to consider the special case). The system can change shape or rotate
equations of motion of point-like particles. We were (although a special class of rigid bodies exist that do
able to nd a short-cut for a two particle system not change shape and is a good approximation to
with internal forces, and this can be extended to many real life objects bound by very strong internal
model the motion of extended bodies.
forces).

5.1

The Many-Particle Approach

Imagine the body to be made up of many pointlike particles, 1, 2, , i. These particles have mass

5.3

Angular Momentum

position, velocity etc. mi , ri , r i , and feel external The angular momentum of the system is the sum
and internal forces, m r = F ext +
F . Since of the constituent particles angular momenta:

i i

ij

these particles are not specically atoms or any other L = mi ri r i .

physical thing, they can be imaginary (and innity
Ex 5.4
numerous) for a continuous body.
Show that if all internal forces are central then:

Particles may interact in arbitrary, complicated L = ri F i

rd
ways. We assume that they obey Newtons 3 law
(this is a non- trivial assumption, consider magnetic
We can separate L into two contributions: the
forces for example) and therefore the internal forces rst from the motion of the centre of mass, and the
should cancel in pairs exactly.
second from the internal motion.
20

Use the parallel axis theorem (I = I0 + M l2 ) for

other parallel Moments of Inertia.

Ex 5.5

Show that it is always true that L = (M R R) + L

Ex 5.10
Use the perpendicular axis theorem (Iz = Ix + Iy )
for laminar objects (thin plates). Keep in mind
the stretch rule: The moment of inertia does not
depend upon the extension along the rotational axis.

where L =

mi r i r

We can separate the torques in the same way, even

if the centre of mass is accelerating.

This is an important, and profound result. The

Ex 5.11
(conserved) angular momentum always has two
What is the period of a physical pendulum? (an obparts: the orbital angular momentum of the centre
ject with a given moment of inertia, suspended via
of mass around the origin, and the spin angular moan axis, and not through the centre of mass)
mentum due to internal motion, intrinsic to the body.
Ex 5.6
What is the angular momentum of a rolling wheel?

5.5

Energy

It is also possible to separate the kinetic energy

into centre of mass and rotational components:
Ex 5.7
1
2
2
Is the moon getting closer to or further away from T = 2 M R 1
mi r i . For xed axis rotation, we
2
the Earth?
can also write the latter part as Trot = 1 I0 2 .
2
Internal forces can do work in general, although
the internal V is not known. In other words, the
The relationship between L and is complicated total internal energy cannot be calculated from the
and will be revisited in the next part of the course. action of external forces alone. Think about the
For a rotational axis that is xed in direction we can particles that make up a wobbling jelly. For a rigid
body the central forces do no work and the internal
simplify this problem:
V is xed. We can apply the conservation of energy
For a rigid body the perpendicular distance of all (T + Vext = E) for this. These energy methods are
very useful for rigid body problems:
particles from the rotational axis is xed.

5.4

Moment of Inertia

Ex 5.12
Ex 5.8
How fast does a sphere roll down a plane?
Show that we can dene the moment of inertia to
be I =
mi 2 so that L = I. (you should treat
i
L and as scalars here. They are not in general as
Ex 5.13
follows from the collapse of the cross-product).
What is the centre of mass motion of a stick falling
over onto a table?
For symmetrical bodies the moment of inertia
through the centre of mass is easy to calculate, and
gives the radius of gyration: I0 = M k 2 and k R.
(This requires a volume integral and comes down to
the trivial thin ring)

Summary
Centre of mass motion:
System moves as a whole like a particle at the
centre of mass

Ex 5.9
21

 In the absence of external forces, momentum is

conserved

Rigid Body Rotation

This depends on Newtons 3rd law being obeyed

by all internal forces

Overview
To Be Covered:

Separation of motion:

Vector nature of angular velocity and momentum

Angular momentum can always be split into orbital and spin parts
This applies even under acceleration

Exemplar system: the gyroscope

For a rigid body, KE can also be split into rotational and translational parts

The inertia tensor & principal axes

For a rigid body, we can apply conservation of

energy under external forces

Eulers equations and rotational stability

Goals:

Rigid bodies:
Particles are xed in their relative position but
the body can rotate

Understand relationship between angular velocity and angular momentum

For rotation about a xed axis, we can calculate a moment of inertia that relates the scalar
angular momentum and angular velocity

Become familiar with the motion of a gyroscope

We can calculate the moment of inertia through

points other than the centre of mass by using the
parallel axis theorem

Understand the role of the inertia tensor & principal axes

Rotational kinetic energy of a rigid body depends on the moment of inertia and the angular
velocity

Understand how Eulers equations predict simple dynamical eects

6.1

The Skew Rod

Both angular momentum and angular velocity are

vectors. (Note, there is an important dierence here
- in the absence of an external torque, L is conserved,
whereas generally is not). For general rigid bodies
these variables need not be parallel. This can be
hard to visualise so we will rst start with a trivial
example of the skew rod

22

Figure 21
Figure 20

The skew rod (Fig. 20) consists of two masses

attached to a light, inexible rod. The system is in
static equilibrium (static moment is zero) which lets
it rotate with a constant angular velocity along the
z-axis.
Ex 6.1
Show that the angular momentum of the system is
always perpendicular to the rod.

Consider a toy gyroscope (Fig. 21). This is a

rapidly rotating disk on a free pivot (the spinning top is a direct equivalent). The weight of
the disk provides an axial force, and the normal
force of the pivot prevents the disk from falling freely.
Ex 6.4
Show that the gyroscope precesses around the pivot
point with p = IS S

Ex 6.2
The full behaviour of the gyroscope is more complex,
Show that the torque on the rod is perpendicular to
and precession is just one type of steady-state
the rod and to L. What is the physical origin of this
behaviour that depends on the initial conditions.
torque?
Experiment with this at <http://faculty.ifmo.
ru/butikov/Applets/Gyroscope.html>
In general L and are not parallel.

6.2

The Gyroscope

Imagine a rotating mass with a large spin angular

momentum, LS , along the y-axis. If we apply a small
force in the z direction the body will try to rotate
about the z-axis! This is somewhat counter-intuitive,
but makes sense if we think about the torque applied.
Ex 6.3

Show that this behaviour is consistent with = L.

6.3

Practical Applications

A gyrocompass (Fig. 22)is commonly used in aircraft.

The gyroscope is suspended so that the rotation axis
is free to move in a vertical plane. The system is
rotating overall, and the spin axis will align with the
overall rotation axis. For example, if the system is
rotating with the Earth then it will eventually point
to absolute north.
23

with L = I. I can be written

Lx
Ixx Ixy
Ly = Iyx Iyy
Lz
Izx Izy

as a matrix:

Ixz
x
Iyz y
Izz
z

I is known as the inertia tensor. The diagonal

elements are the familiar moments of inertia about
the three axes. The o-diagonal elements are called
the products of inertia and can be written explicitly
as
Lx = Ixx x + Ixy y + Ixz z
=

2
2
mi (yi + zi )x

mi xi yi y

mi xi zi z

Other components may be obtained by rotating the

indices. Note, also, that the inertia tensor s symmetric, i.e. Ixy = Iyx. For a general, non-symmetric
body, angular momentum about any axis depends
upon the angular velocity about all three axes
Figure 22

6.5

Brief Aside: Tensors

Scalars have magnitude, but no direction. Vectors

Ex 6.5
Show that the gyrocompass direction oscillates about have magnitude and a direction. Tensors are physical
quantities that have more than one direction. As
North with damped harmonic motion.
with vectors, they are independent of the coordinate
system. Multiplying a tensor by a vector gives a
There is a varying torque on the Earth due to vector (more correctly referred to as taking the
the tidal bulge from both the sun and the moon. inner product as is analogous to the vector dot
The net eect is to produce a torque perpendicu- product). For example, a stress tensor represents
lar to the Earths spin. Earths spin axis precesses deformation of a material under an applied force.
about the normal to the orbital plane with a period A stress in one direction might result in a strain in
T = 26000yr. As such, the North star will not point another (e.g. a stretched rubber band gets thinner).
to the North forever.

6.4

Angular Momentum of a Rigid

Body

Ex 6.6
Show that the angular momentum of a rigid body is
ri mi ( ri )
given by L =

A vector is properly dened by its transformation

properties in that it retains its identity under coordinate system transformations. Tensors are most often
used to write manifestly covariant expressions (i.e.
equations that always remain true despite relativistic
or other transformations). The most famous tensor
equation is likely the Einstein eld equations:
1
8G
R Rg = 4 T
2
c

L depends in a complicated way upon . We can

This concept is covered in more detail at
dene a quantity, I, to represent this dependence <http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/Numbers/
24

Math/documents/Tensors_TM2002211716.pdf> and
Recall the toy gyroscope: it was free to rotate
<arXiv:math/0403252v1>
about a xed pivot point. We often need to calculate
the dynamics about a xed pivot or axis outside the
body itself. We can extend the parallel axis theorem
6.6 Principle Axes
to be:
You can always nd a special set of axes for which
Ixx = Ixx |0 + M (Y 2 + Z 2 ) Ixy = Ixy |0 M XY
the inertia tensor is diagonal (i.e. the products
of inertia are all zero and we are back to simple
Note that a shift of origin alters the principle axis,
moments of inertia). This follows directly from except when the shift takes place along an original
the properties of a 3 3 symmetric matrix. These principle axis.
principle axes are xed in the body and rotate with
it. The corresponding moments of inertia are known
6.7 Eulers Equations
as the principle moments of inertia.
Given a set of external torques how does a body alter
There are a few special cases to this. If an axis is its orientation? Using principle axes, L takes a simple
a reection or rotational symmetry axis, it is also a form:
principle axis. Sometimes there are many choices of
L = I1 1 e1 + I2 2 e2 + I3 3 e3
principle axes. For example for a totally symmetric

body like a sphere, cube or tetrahedron, all axes are

We would like to calculate as a function of L
principle axes.
but the principle axes themselves are rotating as a
function of time. The external torques, however,
Rotation about a principle axis reduces to the 1D refer to a non-rotating set of axes.
case. The body will continue to rotate about that
axis by conservation of L. The body generally has
Ex 6.9
a more complex motion involving a change in the Apply transformations into a rotating frame (see 3)

direction of and the principle axes move with the to give a single equation of motion: L + L =
body making it very dicult to solve the motion.
Note that the products of inertia are themselves a
In terms of angular velocity components,
function of time.
I1 1 + (I3 I2 )3 2 = 1 , and likewise in other

components (by rotating the indices). These equaEx 6.7

tions are not easy to apply! To calculate the torque
Show that the rotational kinetic energy is given by components we need to know the position of the
1
2
2
2
T = 2 L. = 1 I1 1 + 1 I2 2 + 1 I3 3 where 1, 2, 3 body (but the position of the body is changing as
2
2
2
denote principle axes.
a result of the torques). Equations can be usefully
applied step-by-step numerically. For some simple
Taking projections along principle axes simplies situations with symmetry the equations can be of
the calculation. If the body is not absolutely rigid direct help.
then the kinetic energy can change, although L
cannot. Rotation about a non-principle axis places
6.8 Applications of Eulers Equations
tine varying stresses on the body.
Recall the dierence between stable and unstable
equilibrium (e.g. a pencil balanced on its point is
Ex 6.8
Which makes a better UFO? A ying saucer or a in static equilibrium, but is dynamically unstable).
ying cigar?
The same concept applies to rotational motion. (Is
rotation about a given principle axis a stable or an
25

unstable motion?)

General relation between L and

Ex 6.10
Show that rotation about a principle axis is stable
only if it corresponds to the smallest or largest
principle moment of inertia.
When considering torque-free precession consider
the falling penny eect: the angular velocity rapidly
precesses as the at disk settles. We can solve this
system with Eulers equations and by using some
approximations (Much larger angular velocity about
the normal axis to the disk than about the other
axes; Amplitude of procession if small (angular
velocity vector is at a small angle to the symmetry
axis)).
Ex 6.11
Show that a torque-free disk precesses twice as fast
as it spins.
Torque-free precession is a characteristic motion of
rigid bodies. The Earth, for example, has a torquefree precession superimposed upon the precession
of the equinoxes, and a gyroscope released from
rest will also precess about its own axis. Combined
motion is called nutation.

Summary
Rigid bodies
Subset of general extended body motion; size
and shape of body are xed
For non-symmetrical bodies the angular velocity
and angular momentum are not parallel; the angular velocity is not generally xed in direction.

Gyroscopic precession
System with large spin angular momentum will
reacts to a torque with sideways motion
General gyroscopic motion is more complex

26

The inertia tensor describes the general relationship - mixes components

Can always nd principal axes such that inertia
tensor is diagonal
Eulers equations give exact solution to the motion under external torques
They are not easy to apply
Rotation about a principal axis can still be an
unstable equilibrium
Torque-free precession is a characteristic motion
of rigid bodies

Interference

The power in an electromagnetic wave is carried

almost entirely by the electric eld. We can re-write
the above expression as:

Overview

I E 2 + E 2 + 2E 1 .E 2
1
2

To Be Covered:
Conditions for interference

Light frequency is too high for the oscillations (or

phase) to be resolved directly. We can only measure
the irradiance (in the eye, on photographic lm, using electronic sensors etc.). The frequency term, t
is always averaged over, but the relative phase and
space terms are important too.

Interferometers
Multiple source interference
LASERs

Goals:

7.2

Understand the origins and eects of wave interference

Two source interference is the simplest interfering

system. The system consists of two wave sources,
with identical amplitude, frequency and phase, but
separated in space. By observing the irradiance on a
distant plane (screen) we can observe constructive
and destructive interference (Fig. 23). The fringes
created depend on the distance from each source,
which dictates the relative phase of each electric
eld. Lines of minimum irradiance are in fact
hyperbole.

Recognise and be able to explain simple interferometer systems

Understand the principles of multiple source interference
Become familiar with the working principles of
the optical LASER

7.1

Two Source Interference

Wave Interference

A linear system can support any number of superposed wave disturbances. The total displacement at
a point is the sum of these disturbances. Interference takes place when we measure the energy delivered at a given position (otherwise the the waves
do not aect each others propagation - Think about
two crossed light beams). In optical terms we can
place a screen at the point of interest. Recall that
the expression for amplitude due to waves of equal
frequency is:
a2 = a2 + a2 + 2a1 a2 cos(1 2 )
r
1
2

Figure 23

Recall that the electric eld due to one source is

given by

In this course we will concentrate on optical

phenomena. Everything mentioned applies to any
E(r ) = E 1 ei(k .r t+1 ) = E 1 ei(kr+) eit
other transverse wave motion equally, and much
also applies to longitudinal waves so long as you
For spherical harmonic waves we can use the
remember that they cannot be polarised.
second, scalar form for the exponential term.

27

Ex 7.1
7.4 Coherence
Show that for equal-strength sources the irradiance
Practical sources of visible light do not emit a continis given by:
uous harmonic sine wave (e.g. incandescent sources,

I(r) = 4I0 cos2

discharge lamps, phosphors, LEDs etc.) Even a
2
monochromatic source will emit a range of frequenwhere is the relative phase at the point between the cies. This includes LASERs due to the natural line
two contributions. Phase dierence is a function fo width and Doppler broadening. Phase, frequency
position, with maximum irradiance where = m(2) and polarisation of natural light is stable only
for a few nano-seconds (a quantum mechanical deWe typically see interference fringes marking loci scription of light emission is required to explain this).
of constant
The span of time over which the frequency and
phase stays stable is called the coherence time, tc .
7.3 Conditions for Interference
With this there is an associated coherence length,
c
We have been making the assumptions that the lc = n tc . For white sunlight this is a few microns;
two sources have their electric eld parallel; and for gas discharge lamps a few mm; for LASERs, up
that they have the same frequency and zero (or a to a km or more!
constant) relative phase. Practically this is almost
impossible unless we use one source split into two
components.
The polarisation of the beam has an impact on
what it can interfere with:
Parallel linearly-polarised waves can interfere
completely. This implies that there can be zero
electric, E, eld at the minima for equal amplitude sources.
Orthogonally polarised waves cannot interfere.
the term E 1 .E 2 is always zero so there cannot
be interference.

Figure 24

Two partially polarised wave trains can partially

The optical path dierence between interfering
interfere. A projection of the E eld of the rst
waves must be less than the coherence length or no
source onto the E eld of the second source can
stable phase relationship will be possible at the point
contribute to this term.
of interference. As such the eects will be averaged
A single source can always interfere with itself out over the observation time.

(as we will see later). This is true even if it is

unpolarised. The instantaneous polarisation is
identical for both parts of the wave.
From this point on we will assume linear polarisation and ignore the vector nature of the E eld,
instead treating it as a scalar.

7.5

Practical Interference Systems

An extended light source will not provide a single

wave-front (for example, an incandescent body
consists of many independent light emitters at
any one time). The spacial coherence of light is
28

a measure of the predictability of phase over an

extended volume. An (expanded) LASER beam can
approximate a plane wavefront (although bear in
mind that all the systems discussed here pre-date
the invention of LASERS). For other sources we can
use a pinhole to approximate a spherical wave source.
It is almost impossible to synchronise two sources
of light waves. Practical systems will use a single
source with varying optical paths. The output light is
divided, propagates over two or more paths, and then
interferes. Wavefront-splitting interferometers will
Figure 26
split the wavefront in space to provide two or more coherent secondary sources. Amplitude-splitting interferometers, on the other hand, will divide the waveEx 7.2
front (for example by partial reection) to produce
Show that the irradiance pattern corresponds to:
coherent components with a lower amplitude.
I = 4I0 cos2

7.6

Youngs Double Slit Experiment

ya
s

where the constants are shown in Fig. 25

Youngs double slit experiment involves wavefrontsplitting from a pinhole source (Fig. 25). Coherent
Note that there are several approximations made
light from two narrow slits interferes on a distant
here:
screen (Fig. 26). The use of the slits produces a 1D
interference pattern. Contrast this with the 2D pattern produced by two spherical sources.
Slits are of innitely small width (see later)
The angle to the normal was very small
The amplitude from each slit was the same at all
points

Real fringes will smear and fade at large angles/.

7.7

Thin Films

Figure 25

A thin reecting lm of a high refractive index, n

can produce fringes of equal inclination due to the
A set of interference fringes are observed. The external and internal reections as in Fig. 27 (we will
maxima correspond to = 2m, and the minima to ignore higher order reections here). Reected beams
= m .
can interfere at .
29

Figure 27

Ex 7.3
Show that bright fringes appear for reection angles
of
cos f = (sm 1)

f
4d

When a lm varies in width, we observe fringes

of equal thickness. Interference maxima will appear

when d = m + 1 2f . The fringes follow loci

2
of constant thickness (see problem sheet). This
produces the familiar oil slick colours in white
light. Each wavelength has a maximum where the
lm thickness meets the above relation. Only a few
orders of this are visible due to the coherence length
of white light.

Figure 28

This has a historical (and current) role in distinguishing close spectral lines (close lines have a slightly
dierent fringe spacing. Cancellations in these fringes
can appear at high orders and by using the interferometer we can count the wavelengths over standard
lengths); in disproving the concept of aether drag
since the speed of light in both arms is constant; and
in measuring very small distances (mirror movement
of x
can be detected, allowing us to detect
gravitational waves).

7.9

Multi-Beam Interference

Realistic thin lms systems will have many reected

beams that interfere, as shown in Fig. 29. By sumThis eect has a number of practical applications.
ming over these reections, we can nd a general
Stacks of thin layers can be designed to enhance or
function which describes the reected or transmitted
reduce the transmission or reection (see Hecht). It
light
is also of great importance in the design of complex
optical systems to reduce or enhance the reection at
a selected

7.8

Michelson Interferometer

The interferometer can be used as an instrument.

Two light paths (from a beam splitter) interfere after
two reections each (Fig. 28). Note that for identical path lengths we obtain a minimum due to a zero
phase shift on internal reection. One mirror may be
moved in order to examine dierent fringe orders.
30

Figure 29

Ex 7.4
Show that

tical telecommunications; furthermore, the LASERs

resonating cavity is eectively a Fabry-Perot etalon.
It
= AF sin2
Ii
Ir
=A
Ii

Where the Airy function and the coecient of Finesse are given by:
A() =
F =

1
1 + F sin2
2r
1 r2

Figure 31

7.11

Stimulated Emission

Stimulated emission is a purely quantum eect.

Atoms and molecules of a medium interact with
The nesse is the selectivity (see Fig. 30) as a radiation. By entering an excited state, this energy
function of at a xed angle, or of an angle at a can be stored. After a short period the atom decays
xed .
(in rare cases, a metastable state is experienced,
resulting in a longer delay).
Photons can interact with an atom or molecule in
a number of ways:
Absorption: The atom enters an excited state
Spontaneous emission: The atom drops to a
lower energy state
Stimulated emission: A photon causes an emission from an excited atom (this new photon is
identical to the rst in frequency, wave vector,
phase and polarisation)

Figure 30

7.10

Fabry-Perot Etalon

The rates of spontaneous against stimulated emisThe Fabry-Perot etalon (Fig. 31)is a multi-beam sions is related by
interferometer. It is based on a thin lm reection
Rspont
A
8h
with very high reectivity. The multiple interferences

=
Rstim
B
c3
allows a very sharp selection o a narrow bandwidth.
The resolution is dened by the nesse (the ratio of
The optical amplier maintains a population of
separation of adjacent maxima to their half width) - excited atoms in a medium. The equilibrium dis
F = 2F
tribution of excited states is given by the MaxwellBoltzmann distribution. Such a population inversion
The Fabry-Perot interferometer can be used to requires some external source of energy. A single phostudy closely spaced emission lines (e.g. in the Zee- ton passing through this medium will be amplied
man eect); to separate adjacent wavelengths in op- coherently.
31

7.12

The LASER

from the Helium to the Neon. Neons radiative decay is the lasting transition and decays to the ground
state by collisions with the walls. (Fig. 33)

To produce a LASER (Fig. 32) you must have

A medium with a population inversion
A power source to maintain this inversion
A resonant LASER cavity

Figure 32

The LASER cavity is essentially a highly tuned

Fabry-Perot device (designed for many reections).
At one end there is a half-silvered plate to allow light
to escape. Multi-layer mirrors are often used here.
Laser light has some interesting properties:
High spacial coherence (due to the nature of
stimulated emission).
Highly temporal coherence (almost monochromatic) - the width of the cavity resonance is normally much smaller than the emission line.

There are a number of types of LASER:

Solid state (crystal): original type, cheap, powerful
Gas: good optical properties, ecient, renewable
medium, highest CW power
Semiconductor: 99.99% of LASERs are of this
form

Highly collimated beam (only light parallel to

the cavity axis is amplied).
A simple Gaussian beam prole (for lowest
transverse modes) - the light can be focussed to
a very narrow spot to give extreme intensities.

7.13

Figure 33

Responsible for the revolution in storage and

communications technologies
Chemical (e.g. excimer): shortest wavelength,
highest energy output
Free electron: new concept, LASER action uses
a relativistic particle beam

Practical LASERs

A practical LASER example is the Helium-Neon

LASER. Helium atoms within the cavity are excited State of the art lasers can produce up to 5fs pulse
by gas discharge into metastable excited states (no lengths (< 1), 1PW pulse power, 150kW CW power,
radiative decay). Inelastic collisions transfer energy 190nm wavelength.
32

7.14

LASER Gyroscopes

Conditions for interference

Interfering waves must be coherent and polarised
for interference to be observed

The ring (Sagnac) amplitude division interferometer combines counter-rotating beams (Fig. 34). A
constant rotation changes the eective path for both
beams, since the speed of light is xed. Counting the
fringes reveals the rotation speed.

Sources can be characterised by their temporal

and spatial coherence
Practical interferometers work by splitting a single optical source

Interferometers
May be used to analyse spectral properties of
light (e.g. emission lines)
May be used to accurately measure small distances, less than one wavelength

LASERs
Figure 34

The LASER gyroscope is a superior replacement

for the gyrocompass since there are no moving parts
to break or wear out. Most modern devices use a
ring LASER. All components are within the LASER
cavity and the counter-rotating beams pass through
gain medium in this set-up. The sensitivity can
be improved by the use of multiple turns. When
sensitivity is vital, external bre-optic coils are
typically used.

Summary
Interference
A medium can support multiple superposed
wave trains
Superposed waves from two or more sources can
interfere when observed
Interference term depends on relative phase of
contributing elds
For constant frequency, is a function of the difference in optical path length

33

Practical source of bright coherent light, uses a

tuned optical cavity amplier

Diraction

8.2

Interference in Wave Propagation

The eect of interference is that the phases of

the secondary waves nearly cancel except at the
wavefront. Beams of large size compared to do
not spread out as much as they propagate.

Overview
To Be Covered:
Propagation of waves & Huygens Principle
Diraction by an aperture

Placing an obstacle in the path of the wave

destroys this cancellation. When light encounters a
boundry it no longer travels in a straight line, and
can ll in the shadow, typically with a complex
interference pattern. This is most important for
obstacles comparable in size to .

Fraunhofer approximation
Fourier optics

Goals:
Understand wave propagation and the relevance
of interference

Obstacles which aect the amplitude or phase of

the wave will cause it to spread out. The spreading
Understand the nature of diraction for small
can be described by considering the interference efapertures
fects. For objects which are very large compared to
Understand the Fraunhofer approximation to there is little eect. For example, sound will bend
diraction
around a pole, whereas light will not (except very
close to the edges of the shadow). Also consider a
Appreciate the relevance of Fourier methods in
microwave oven doors mesh to prevent radiation leakoptics
age. Diraction and interference simply describe
the eects of the scale compared to

8.1

Wave Propagation

A medium is an innite set of coupled oscillators.

Any disturbance will propagate outwards in all directions (although this is not quite true for polarised
waves). As such, only an (idealised) plane wave
will propagate in a straight line. How can this be
reconciled with the rectilinear propagation of light?
(e.g. the fact that we think of obstacles as casting
sharp shadows).

8.3

Diraction

For the full picture, we ideally start with Maxwells

equations and work through to diraction. An
exact solution cannot be obtained by this method
except in symmetrical cases. Fresnel found a way
to obtain a good description of diraction eects
by modifying Huygens principle to contain an
obliquity factor to account for interference efHuygens principle, the idea that each point on fects. In addition, the amplitude of the wave has
a wavefront is the source of a new set of secondary an angular dependence (e.g. no backwards emission).
waves, can account for the laws of reection and
refraction but cannot fully explain the observed
Kircho demonstrated that this is a good approxpropagation of light (as was a major argument in imation to a full solution for electromagnetic waves.
the waves versus particles debate in Newtons time). We will look (briey and qualitatively) at an even
We need to modify the principle to account for more approximate method. The Fraunhofer approxinterference.
imation is appropriate for the far eld description of
diraction. It requires that the diracted waves and
In reality, the wave mechanics picture is the ac- the interference position are very far from the obcepted modern description, as with quantum mechan- stacle; i.e. that we can treat incoming and outgoing
ics.
waves as plane waves, and ignore attenuation eects.
34

We will deal with diraction at an aperture as being a hole in an otherwise completely absorbing barrier. The linearity of the theory of electromagnetism
allows up to replace this hole with a source. The resulting eld will be very similar for a very absorbing
barrier. We just need to calculate the far-eld interference for a given set of sources, where the sources
are distributed over distances comparable with

8.4

The peak positions depend on and the source spacing. This is the principle behind the diraction grating. A large number of reecting or refracting obstacles will act as an array of point sources. The
pattern is further modied by diraction eects.

Multiple Source Interference

Consider an array of sources (Fig. 35), similar to

those used in examples of interference. We have N
evenly spaced, coherent point sources with the same
frequency and phase.
Figure 36

8.5

Cherenkov Eect

When a Cherenkov particle traverses a material, the

medium is polarised, then relaxes emitting EM radiation. If a particle has <1 /n (slower than light in the
medium) then it destructively interferes everywhere.
If, however, it has >1 /n (faster than light) then
constructive interference occurs at the Cherenkov an1
gle: cos C = n (Fig. 37)

Figure 35

Ex 8.1
Show that the irradiance distribution at innity is:
I = I0

sin2

N
2

sin2 2

where = kd sin
Figure 37

The applications of this are that we can alter the

This is the characteristic nuclear blue glow. It
direction of maximum irradiance (or sensitivity) by
adjusting the phase angle (as in phased arrays, inter- is used in particle identication, by measuring the
ferometric radio astronomy etc.); and, for large N , cone angle in a medium of known n, measuring the
the irradiance peaks become very narrow (Fig. 36). momentum in a magnetic spectrometer, and thereby
35

determining the and therefore, mass. The eect

also keeps astronauts awake since charged particles
in their eyeballs cause ashes.

8.6

where =

Diraction by a Finite Slit

8.7

For a continuous source, N . We must replace

the source intensities by source strength per unit
length. We can calculate the irradiance due to an
(innitely narrow) continuous line source. Letting D
be the line length, with D
.
Ex 8.2
Show that the irradiance is:
I() = I(0)
where =

kD
2

sin

kD
2

sin .

Double-Slit Diraction

The diraction pattern from a single slit (Fig. 39) will

have most light travelling in the forward direction as
it would if there were no diraction. In addition there
are subsidiary fringes at larger angles (although we
can only consider small ) in the Fraunhofer approximation).

sin .

A line source looks like a source of circular waves

in a plane since is always very large except near
= 0. This is at the centre of the Fraunhofer
approximation.

Figure 39

A realistic double slit pattern (Fig. 40) involves

summing the elds from both slits, including the
phase. The result is

I() = 4I0

sin

cos2

where the usual double slit diraction reappears: =

ka
2 sin

Figure 38
Figure 40
For a 2D slit, of width b (Fig. 38), each subslit
(parallel to the long axis) will be a source of circular
waves. Applying the same logic as before, we can
Note the presence of missing fringes where a
show that
2
diraction minimum coincides with a double slit insin
I() = I(0)
terference maximum.

36

plane waves at various angles.

Recall that the Fourier transform of a Gaussian
is another Gaussian. As such, a smooth, Gaussian
aperture will have no diractive fringes.
This
is important in devices that transmit or receive
well-collimated radiation, such as radar antennae,
radio telescopes, LASERs etc.
All geometric optics can be reformulated in Fourier
terms and as such is a very powerful way of designing
and analysing practical optical systems.
Figure 41

Summary
8.8

General Apertures

Wave propagation

Similar arguments can provide the Fraunhofer

diraction pattern of any aperture. The general expression involves a 2D integral over the aperture area:
EA (y, z, )ei(tkR)
E=
R

ik(Y y+Zz)
R

Huygens-Fresnel principle gives an intuitive picture of the propagation of light through a

medium
Interference must be taken into account to understand it fully

dS

Diraction
The expression EA (y, z) is the aperture.
An important example is the circular aperture.
Diraction at a circular aperture limits how well
we can collimate any light beam. By time-reversal
it also limits the resolution of optical systems. A
system of nite size must impose some aperture
on the incoming light, resulting in a pattern as in
Figs. 42a, 42b, 42c.

An obstacle or aperture comparable in size with

does not cast a sharp shadow
Interference allows light to propagate at an angle
and ll in the shadow
The Fraunhofer approximation species the resulting diraction pattern in the far eld limit
(plane waves, no amplitude variation)

Diraction patterns

8.9

The Fourier Approach

You may recognise the general diraction formula.

The integral is closely related to the Fourier transform. The aperture function transforms into a
complete set of spatial frequencies of outgoing waves.
Sharply denes slits need a large range of spatial
frequencies to represent it, resulting in diraction at
large angles. Smooth apertures can be represented
by a much smaller range of diracted frequencies.
We can build up any 3D wave pulse from a series of
37

A narrow slit generates a wide set of diraction

fringes
Interference patterns of a system of slits are
modied by diraction eects
Diraction pattern for an aperture is the Fourier
transform of the apertures function
A smooth Gaussian aperture generates very little diraction

(b)
(c)

(a)

38