Electromagnetic Waves and Transmission Lines (Chapters 1-5)

This book is a collection of lectures in electromagnetism, waves, transmission lines, and microwave engineering given in the past 15 years at San Jose State University (SJSU). The Electromagnetic Wave was originally a one-year course for students in junior standing, and now reduced to a semester under the assumption that our students have already mastered basic electromagnetism up to Faraday’s Law. In reality, many students have forgotten, and still struggling with vector algebra and applications of calculus. This is not unique to SJSU by any means, but also at other universities I have taught in the past. The few textbooks we had adopted at SJSU in the past decades were either too simple (in which none of the transmission line theory was presented), or too advanced (where no adequate review in basic electromagnetism was given). This book is written for students who have learned elementary electromagnetism, but can use some review, and at the same time learn to deal with more difficult problems. Mastering problem solving skills is more important to engineering students than remembering formulas. To stimulate their logical thinking, challenging problems such as those require application of 1-dimensional result to solve 2 or 3-dimensional problems are included as examples and also as exercises at the end of the chapters. The second half of the book focuses on waves, transmission lines, and impedance matching. Relations of the course materials to applications in antenna, RF circuits, and optics are highlighted whenever possible. Students often tell me this experience help them land their first job or internship. Many are motivated to further their study in RF and microwave communications as a result. With only one semester, a few chapters have to be eliminated partially or entirely. Professors can pick and choose their preference. At SJSU, we tend to keep Chapters 2 to 7, and Chapter 9 every semester, and other chapters in rotation. This textbook does not cover all aspects in electromagnetism. Many interesting topics related to the interactions between matter and electromagnetic waves are beyond what we can manage in one semester or one year. The goal of this course is to provide some fundamental knowledge of the subject, and spark enough interest for students to explore further in applied Part 1 Chapter 1: Vector Algebra and Vector Calculus Chapter 2: Electrostatics Chapter 3: Magnetism Chapter 4: Electrodynamics Chapter 5: Maxwell’s Equations and Boundary Conditions