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Re: [Phys-l] spherical waves



On 06/23/2011 10:10 AM, Bernard Cleyet wrote:
Would not the far field be r >> diameter or diagonal of the system?

Yes.

No doubt there are two requirements: in the far field r must
be large compared to the wavelength *and* large compared to
the extent of the source.

Similar words apply to receivers, as always.

=========================

Also, some references:

Any book on "Mathematical Methods of Physics" will cover
spherical waves. Boas is better than most IMHO.
http://www.amazon.com/Mathematical-Methods-Physical-Sciences-Mary/dp/0471198269/

A lot of people learned this stuff from Jackson
http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Electrodynamics-Third-David-Jackson/dp/047130932X/
which may not be the best way to initially learn this
topic, but the book is useful as a review/reference, and
is something you probably want to have anyway.

If you already know the answer you can probably find
the answer in wikipedia, but I would not recommend it
(or any encyclopedia) as an introductory text.

You can find some "lecture notes" online via
http://www.google.com/search?q=spherical-harmonics+bessel+%22wave+equation%22+site%3A.edu

The first hit is
physics.ucsc.edu/~peter/116C/helm_sp.pdf
which seems OK to me at first glance, although perhaps more
of a review than an introduction. At least it tells you what
to look for, if you want to continue looking.