COURSE TITLE: ECE 224 Fundamentals of Electromagnetics and Photonics

CATALOG DESCRIPTION: Concepts of flux, potential, gradient, divergence, curl, and field intensity. Boundary conditions and solutions to Laplace and Poisson equations. Capacitance and inductance calculations. Conductors, insulators, and magnetic materials.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

F. Ulaby, Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics, Prentice Hall, 2004.

J. Edminister, Schaum’s Outline of Theory and Problems of Electromagnetics, McGraw-Hill.

COURSE COORDINATOR: Allen Taflove

COURSE GOALS: To provide the electrical engineering student with the necessary foundation to appreciate how electromagnetic fields and waves impact modern technology such as high-speed digital circuits and fiber optics.

PREREQUISITES: ECE 202, Physics 135-2 and Mathematics 215.

DETAILED COURSE TOPICS:

Week 1 Introduction: Why study electromagnetics? Review of complex numbers and
phasors. Review of coordinate systems. Review of vector analysis.

Week 2 Transmission lines: Lumped-element model. Transmission line equations.
Wave propagation and reflection. Standing waves.

Week 3 Transmission lines (continued): Input impedance. Smith Chart. Impedance
matching. Transients.

Week 4 Electrostatics: Charge and current. Coulomb’s Law. Gauss’ Law. Electric
potential.

Week 5 Electrostatics, continued: Electrical properties of materials. Conductors and
dielectrics. Electric field boundary conditions. Capacitance and electrostatic field energy.

Week 6 Magnetostatics: Forces and torques. Biot-Savart Law. Gauss’ Law. Ampere’s
Law.

Week 7 Magnetostatics, continued. Magnetic properties of materials. Magnetic field
boundary conditions. Inductance and magnetic field energy.

Week 8 Maxwell’s equations for time-varying fields: Lenz’s Law. Transformers and
generators. Faraday’s Law. Displacement current and the generalized Ampere’s Law. Field boundary conditions.

Week 9 Plane-wave propagation: Time-harmonic fields. Propagation in lossless media.
Polarization. Propagation in lossy media. Skin effect. Poynting vector and
power flow.

Week 10 Wave reflection and transmission: Normal incidence. Snell’s Laws. Total
internal reflection. Application to fiber optics.

GRADES: Midterm 30%; final 60%; homework 10%.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: When a student completes this course, s/he should understand:

1) Fundamentals of transmission lines and impedance matching.

2) Theoretical foundations of static electric and magnetic fields: Coulomb’s Law, charge
conservation, Biot-Savart Law, Faraday’s Law, Ampere’s Law, and Gauss’ Laws. Key
concepts include field boundary conditions, potential functions, and energy storage.

3) Basic electrical properties of conductors, semiconductors, dielectrics, and magnetic materials.

4) Fundamental concepts of conductance, capacitance, and inductance.

5) Lenz’s Law and the operation of simple motors and generators.

6) Propagation of plane electromagnetic waves in unbounded media, including power flow.

7) Fundamental concepts of plane-wave reflection and transmission at material interfaces, leading to geometrical optics.

8) Why the study of electromagnetics is essential in the development of ultrahigh-speed
computing and communications systems.

ABET CONTENT CATEGORY: 25% Math and Basic Science, 75% Engineering.