Radio Science,Volume 12, Number 3, pages365-370, May-June 1977

A quasi-optical
approximation
for absorbing
mediahavingdispersion
relations
withrepeated
solutions
J. A. Bennett I

Telecom Australia Research Laboratories, Melbourne, Australia 3000

(Received May 4, 1976.)

A quasi-opticalapproximationis constructedfor waves in media for which the dispersionrelation

has repeated solutions,the order of repetition being constantthroughoutthe medium. By a suitable
choice of the basis vectors representingthe polarizationscorrespondingto the repeated solution,
the equationsfor the amplitude may sometimesbe uncoupled. An important application is to radio
waves in an isotropic absorbingmedium.

INTRODUCTION transport equations may sometimesbe uncoupled.

An important applicationis to Maxwell's equations
Recently it was shown how complex rays may
for an isotropicmedium.This includestropospheric
be used to constructa quasi-opticalapproximation
radio propagationwhere the loss is primarily due
for time-harmonic waves in the absorbing iono-
to water vapor and ionosphericradio propagation
sphere [Bennett, 1974]. The technique applies if the earth's magnetic field is neglected. In the
equally to other systems of equations of the form latter case the loss is due to the collisions the
(1) below, provided each solution for the phase
electrons suffer with other particles. To the extent
velocity or refractive index is unrepeated. This
that the medium may be representedby an effective
restriction is important. If a solution is repeated,
dielectric constant, it also includesradio propaga-
the matrix in (4) below possessesmore than one
tion through regions of the atmospherecontaining
right null vectorsmore than one possiblepolariza-
tion exists for that solution. If two distinct solutions
sphericalrain drops. In the limit of vanishinglosses
the resultsfor an isotropicmedium reduce to those
coalesceat isolatedpoints in (complex) space, this
obtainedpreviously [Lewis, 1965;Lewis and Gran-
is associatedwith stronglocalized couplingbetween
ola, 1970; Kline and Kay, 1965].
modes [Heading, 1961; Ludwig, 1970; Budden,
1972; Smith, 1973] and a more general expansion
WAVE EQUATIONS
technique is required. If the order of repetition
throughout space is constant, it is known that for In common with most systemsof wave equations
the losslessand asymptotically losslesssituations, of classicalphysics,for a time dependenceexp(iot)
a simple quasi-optical expansion is possible. Maxwell's equationsmay be written in matrix form
However, the transport equations for the wave
amplitudesare generally coupled [Lewis, 1965; (BO/ Oy+ i'q&E) v = 0 (1)
Lewis and Granoff, 1970; Kline and Kay, 1965]. where the B(i= 1, ..., n) are real symmetrical
In this paper it is shown that this is so also for constant m x m matrices and v is an m-element
the 1ossycase. column vector. The m x m matrix E characterizes
The solution of the transport equations is first the medium properties and if the medium is in-
written in terms of the matrizant of the matrix
homogeneous,E dependsupon the point y = (y)
system of transport equations. It is further shown in space. If the medium is dispersive, E depends
that, by a suitablechoiceof basisvectorsrepresent- uponfrequency.However, on dimensionalgrounds,
ing the various possible wave polarizations, the it is clear that the frequency dependenceis only
throughdimensionlessfrequency ratios of the form
Oc/Owhere oc is a typical natural frequency
Now with the Departmentof Electrical Engineering,Monash
University, Clayton, Australia 3168.
characterizing the medium. In (1) we have written
l in placeof to,where 3is a normalizedfrequency.
Copyright( 1977by the AmericanGeophysicalUnion. If similarly at each point in space, oc = l&c for

365
366 J.A. BENNETT

each natural frequency, then E is independent of ed by the tips of the solution vectors p of (5) is
xl. If E is a smooth function of position in space, the refractive index surface.
for large xl, the medium will appear slowly varying
on the scale of the wavelength. This is the basis THE QUASI-OPTICAL EXPANSION
of the quasi-opticalapproximation [Lewis, 1965; If an approximate solution of the form
Lewis and GranoL 1970;Bennett, 1974].
Specifically, for Maxwell's equations in three V= (gO+ 'I]-I gl + '-') exp (-ixl&S/c) (6)
dimensions n = 3 and the quantities in (1) take
the form is substituted in (1), the result is

-xi(&/c)(B.VS- cE) go+ xl[B'Vgo- i(&/c)

:o o o
0 '0 0 1
:0 -1 0 (B.X7S- cE)g, ] + ... = 0 (7)
B--
0 0 O' If (7) is to be satisfied for the highest power
0 0 -1' 0 of xl, then
0 1 0',
det (B.VS- cE) = 0 (8)
,0 0 -1
:0 0 0
',1 0 0 This is the "equation of the eikonal." In the
B = presence of losses it does not, in general, admit
0 0 1'
0 0 O' 0 real characteristics (rays). However, if E is an
-1 0 O' analyticfunction of y, equation(8) may be extended
to complex y and solved by the method of charac-
' 0 1 0
:-1 0 0 teristics in this extended space. These complex
: o o o characteristics are the complex rays [Bennett,
B3 -- (2)
0 -1 O'
1974].
1 0 O: 0 Denotingthe left-hand side of (5) by F(p,y) the
0 0 O:
equation of the eikonal becomes

'v = '[e, e2e3hh2h3] F(7S,y) = 0 (9)

where e and h are the electrical and magnetic fields The ray equations take the form
of the wave and
-p' = 00F/Oy, y' = OOF/Op (10)

to be solved with

E= --,-
wherethe 3 x 3 matricese and Ix are representations
of the electric and magnetic permittivity tensors,
respectively. For bianisotropicmedia there are multiplying function 0 dependsupon the choice of
nonzerooff-diagonal( and . u [Bennett, 1974, 1976]. At each point on the ray
For a homogeneous mediuma planewave solution
of (1) proportionalto r exp[-itop.y/c] existsif
(B-p - cE) r = 0
whereB.p = B i pi. For a nontrivialsolutionit
is necessarythat
det(Bop - cE) = 0
and r must be a correspondingright null vector
of the matrix in (4). Equation (5) is one way of
writing the dispersionrelation. The surfacegenerat-
I
I
(3) F(p,y) = 0 (11)
Here the prime representsdifferentiation with re-
spect to u, a parameter describing the ray. The
E7S = p. Thus S can be found by integrating along
an appropriate set of rays. If (9) consistsof multiple
sheets there will be distinct sets of rays corre-
(4)
sponding to each sheet. For ease of discussion we
consideronly one sheetand the correspondingrays.
In order to construct the complete solution it is
necessary to sum over these distinct sheets in (7).
(5)
THE TRANSPORT EQUATIONS
Since at each point on a ray V S = p where p
is determinedfrom the ray equationsit also follows
 APPROXIMATION FOR ABSORBING MEDIA 367

by comparing(4) and (7) that go must be a right ' r cE r = dS/du (18)

null vector of the matrix in (4). When the value
of p so determinedis an unrepeatedsolutionof
(5) there is just one linearly independentright null
vector. If p is a repeatedsolutionof multiplicity
q, thereare q linearlyindependentrightnull vectors.
(The scalar p-' is an eigenvalueof E-' B./c
where p = p and is a unit vector. If this matrix
is simple[Lancaster,1969,p. 61], to an eigenvalue
of multiplicity q correspondq linearly independent
eigenvectors.)Supposep is a solutionof multiplicity
q. Then
q
where u is the parameter describing the ray. This
is possiblegivenan initial set of 'r for which
dct( r cE r) : 0 usingtheGram-Schmidt
process
[Lancaster, 1969, p. 70]. It then follows that
' r+ Br = y' (19)
where y' = dy/du is a vector tangent to the ray.
Now, multiplyingthe coefficient of 1 in (7) on
the left by r and makinguseof (12) it follows
that
q q

go= E r r (12) 'r BE r-V%

+ 'r B-E (X7r)= 0
x=l x--I
(20)

wherethe r are a set of linearlyindependentright However,if 'r satisfies(18) it followsfrom (19)

null vectorsand the r are scalars.Someprelimi- that equation (20) reduces to
naries are required before the equation satisfied q

by the r can be obtained. r+'r-B-E (Vr)r

=0 (21)
Write (4) for a particular r; thus
The coefficients in (21) may be written
(B-p - cE)r = 0 (13)
Denote by a superscript+ a solution of the asso- 'r B.Vr = (1/2)[(V' r+).B r +' r B-(X7r)]
ciated problemin which E is replacedby its matrix -(1/2) [(X7,rg).B r - ,re B.(Vr)] (22)
transpose. Thus
while, from (19),
(B-p - c' E)r = 0 (14)
' +B.(Vr)+(V' +)-Br=B V-y' (23)
Since p satisfies(5), while B is symmetrical,and
It follows that (21) may be written, in matrix
the determinant is invariant with respect to matrix
transposition, it is not necessary to distinguish notation,
between p and p +. Taking the matrix transpose
b' + (1/2)(V.y')b - Cb = 0 (24)
of (14),
where C is the q x q matrix of elements
' + (B-p - cE) = 0 (15)
Thus t r,
+ (1/2)[(V ' r+ )-B r - ' r+ B. (Vr)]
13= 1, ..., q, is a left null vectorof
(Bop- cE). In general, C will have off diagonal elements and
Now, in (13), differentiating with respect to p the system (24) will be coupled.
andmultiplying
on theleft by 'r leadsto Formally, the solution for & may be written
[compare Bennett, 1974, equations29, 41, 42]'
'r Brdp+ 'r (B-p- cE)(Or/0p)
dp=0 (16)
However, from (15) the secondterm vanishes.Also,
differentiating in (11), &=exp
--- V-y'du
&0 (25)
where the integrals are taken along the ray and
(OF/Op) dp= 0 (17)
bo is an initial value. Equation (2:5)may also be
Thus ' +Br and OF/Op, and from the secondof written
(10) y' also,are parallelspacevectors.The constants
of proportionalitymay be determinedby taking the ' = (aoy/ ay')'/2 8'0 (26)
dot product of each vector with p. It is convenient where y' = (y'.y')/2 and a is the cross-sectional
to choosea set'rg satisfying area of the correspondingray tube. Here the sub-
368 J.A. B ENNETF

script zero indicatesvalues at the point where the A-'A + A -A' = 0 (35)
ray leaves the source. In (25) and (26)
In general A -l A' is nondiagonaland the attempt
fails. The situationis analogousto wave propagation
f/= [ + ?(u)du
+ (u) C'(u) in onedimensionwith distinctpropagationvelocities
[e.g., Budden,1961]. However, in the presentcase
the coupling is strongerand making the expansion
dUl du2 + -'- (27)
parameter1large does not in itself lead to approxi-
is the q x q solutionof the matrix equation matedecoupl__ing.
If the off-diagonal
elements
of
the matrix A -l A' may be neglected we have
I'=CI, l 0= I (28) approximately

and is known as the matrizant [Frazer et al., 1938].

- ro(aoyo/ay)/2exp (D + ,)du (36)

DIAGONALIZATION OF TRANSPORT EQUATIONS

whereA = -diag A - A'. (If the eigenvalu__es
of C remain distinct, it is sufficient that C' be
We may attempt to diagonalize (24) by choosing
small.) Fortunately, in an important special case,
new sets of r and + by linear transformation. A - A' is zero, and (36) (with A = 0) is an exact
Let be the m x q matrix madeup of the q different
solution of (33).
r,. In matrix notation the transformationsmay be
represented AN ISOTROPIC MEDIUM

Y= A (29)
An important application of the results is to an
isotropic medium with = I, tx = I with I a 3
t+ =A + (30) x 3 unit matrix. In this case (5) leads to

where the -- indicates the new quantities and the
q x q matrices A and tA + are as yet undertermined.
It is required that (18) should continue to be satis-
fied. This leads to the requirement
SupposeC is simpleand
A -l CA = D
pop = 2 (37)
where = c(ixE)1/2 is the refractive index. The
order of multiplicity is two. One choice of corre-
sponds to linear polarization. Let T, N, B be a
mutually orthogonal triple of space vectors with
T a tangent vector at a point on the ray and N
and B the ray principal normal and binormal, re-
(32) spectively. A possiblechoicefor is

where D is a diagonal matrix. Equation (32) is

satisfiedif A is made up of the right eigenvectors - 1 [z-/B
z'/N z'/B]
_z-/N (38)
of C and the elements of D are the eigenvalues
,,, say, of C [Lancaster, 1969, p. 67]. When where z = (ix/E) /2 and N and B are interpreted
as column vectors.
(29)-(32) are substituted in (21), in place of (24)
we find Since E is symmetrical, r is a right null vector
of the + system. It may be verified that the choice
?+ = , where is given by (38), satisfies (18)
or'+ [(1/2) X7.y' .[ -/ + ,- ,'] = 0 (33) if u is taken as arc length s. By a similar calculation
This is the same result that would have been to that of Lewis [ 1965], Lewis and Granoff [ 1970],
obtained from (24) by the transformation and Kline and Kay [1965]:
__ 0 +-r
C= (39)
ff = A -1 ' (34) --'r 0

when use is made of the fact that where

 APPROXIMATION FOR ABSORBING MEDIA 369

x = -N-B' (40) fdu of essentiallythe same origin as f'du in

the case of an unrepeated sheet. The additional
is the torsion of the ray. In this case -the constant phasechange cannot be found from a consideration
transformation matrix
of flux conservation. For an unrepeated sheet the
conservation equation
A= i 1 (41) W- (r + r y') - 0 (45)

diagonalizes(24) and is satisfied [Bennett, 1974]. In the present case,

from (24) and the associated + equation, making
= +ix 0
D= (42) use of the fact that C + = -C, we find
0 -ix
W-(' & + &y') = 0 (46)
That is, the transport equations for left and right
circular polarizations are uncoupled. In terms of Equations (45) and (46) determine only products
of r and r +.
the new polarizations,the quasi-opticalsolutioncan
in this case be written In the limit of vanishinglossesE becomeshermi-
tian and, when freely propagating solutions exist,
v --(&n0exp(i f 'r ds)P+ 620exp(-i f xds) 72) positive definite. Then, for a homogeneouswave,
the right-handsideof (18) is real for u real. Equation
(ao/a)'/2 exp[-i,rl(/c) f ds] (43)
if t rg = r*s, the hermitianconjugate
(18)is satisfied
Use has been made of the ray equations (10) and of rs. (Thefinalresultcanbe shownto beindepen-
(37)to find p.dy/ds = p-p/ = . For homogene- dent of the choiceof '+, provided(18) is satisfied.)
ous waves in a nonabsorbingmedium, , % a, Then, from (22), C is antihermitian. Thus the
and the ray are real. Then, if the initial polarization eigenvalues& are purely imaginaryand the matrix
is linear, (43) reduces to the result obtained pre- canbe diagonalized
by a unita__ry
transformation
viously for this case [Lewis, 1965; Lewis and [Lancaster, 1969]. In this caseA- = A* and from
Granof[, 1970;Kline and Kay, 1965]. (35) it follows that is purely imaginary. In this
case the additional factor represents a slow scale
DISCUSSION phase change.
The preceding calculations lead to an approxi-
Acknowledgments. The permissionof the Research Labora-
mation of the form [compare Bennett, 1974, equa- tories of the Telecom Australia to publishthis paper is acknowl-
tion 43]' edged. This work was supported by the Research Laboratories
and the Australian Radio Research Board by means of a
fellowship.
v--E
a:
6
Pa0Y0
ay'
/2
REFERENCES
exp +
(f /du+
f du-ixl
c
p- du
) Bennett, J. A. (1974), Complex rays for radio waves in an
() absorbing ionosphere, Proc. IEEE, 62, 1577-1585.
Bennett, J. A. (1976), A ray expansionwith matrix coefficients
where it is assumed that (36) is valid, and is for sourcesin absorbinganisotropicmedia, $. Plasma Phys.,
15, 151-163.
the ath diagonal element of -A - A'. is is the
Budden, K. G. (1961), Radio Waves in the Ionosphere, pp.
contributionfrom only one (albeit repeated) sheet 385-411, Cambridge University Press, London.
of the eikonal equation. It is in general necessary Budden, K. G. (1972), The theory of coupling of characteristic
to add also over the distinct nonintersectingsheets. radio waves in the ionosphere, $. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 34,
If A - A' in (33) is zero each of the q contributions 1909-1921.

in (36) is of the same form as that from an unre- Frazer, R. A., W. J. Duncan, and A. R. Collar (1938), Elementary
Matrices, p. 53, Cambridge University Press, London.
peatedsheet.In particular,the slowscale(complex) Heading, J. (1961), The nonsingular imbedding of transition
phase
change
represented
by du appears.
It is processeswithin a more general framework of coupled varia-
of interest that if A - A' is not zero but (36) is bles, $. Res. Nat. Bur. Stand. Sect. D, 65D, 595-616.
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370 J.A. BENNETT

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in an inhomogeneous
plas-
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Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal., 20, 191-250. Smith,M. S. (1973)Phaseintegralandcouplingfor radiowaves
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