Physics Asked by Riley Scott Jacob on August 28, 2021
This is building off of a question I asked here.
When discussing the linked problem with some friends, the consensus seemed to be that the reason two identical semi-infinite plane waves cannot undergo perfect constructive interference is because their non-infinite spatial extent means they necessarily cannot be monochromatic, and so they cannot perfectly constructively interfere everywhere.
While this seems logical, I feel there is an assumption here that shouldn’t be taken for granted: this assumes that the spatial distribution of frequencies cannot be the same for both waves. Is this the case? Or is it possible to generate two coherent semi-infinite beams whose spatial frequency distributions are perfectly in phase?
This question is, I believe, equivalent to asking if two identical semi-infinite plane waves can perfectly constructively interfere. In the linked question you can see my energy-based argument as to why I expect it is not possible. I’m looking for a more rigorous workthrough.
I am not certain that a semi infinite plane wave is a valid solution to Maxwell’s equations. However, let us instead consider a general wave that is a solution to Maxwell’s equations. If you make another wave which has complete constructive interference with the first wave then you will add the two fields together, resulting in a double field everywhere. This also includes doubling the sources.
If you double the fields then according to Poynting’s theorem you have four times as much energy. His seems to be a violation of the conservation of energy. However, in fact it is not. The energy in the waves is indeed four times as great, but in order to produce such a wave you must have doubled the sources as well. So you doubled the E field and you doubled J. Then by Poynting’s theorem you have quadrupled the work.
So yes, the field contains four times as much energy, but it also requires four times as much energy to produce. The mistake is in believing that it only requires double the work to produce the double field.
Answered by Dale on August 28, 2021
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