A. S. Marathay and J. F.

McCalmont

Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

2585

Vector diffraction theory for electromagnetic

waves
Arvind S. Marathay
Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721

John F. McCalmont
U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory/SNJW, 3050 C Street, Hangar 4B, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton,
Ohio 45433-7300
Received October 27, 2000; revised manuscript received March 16, 2001; accepted March 19, 2001
The scalar HuygensFresnel principle is reformulated to take into account the vector nature of light and its
associated directed electric and magnetic fields. Based on Maxwells equations, a vector Huygens secondary
source is developed in terms of the fundamental radiating units of electromagnetism: the electric and magnetic dipoles. The formulation is in terms of the vector potential from which the fields are derived uniquely.
Vector wave propagation and diffraction formulated in this way are entirely consistent with Huygenss principle. The theory is applicable to apertures larger than a wavelength situated in dark, perfectly absorbing
screens and for points of observation in the right half-space at distances greater than a wavelength beyond the
aperture. Alternatively, a formulation in terms of the fields is also developed; it is referred to as a vector
HuygensFresnel theory. The proposed method permits the determination of the diffracted electromagnetic
fields along with the detected irradiance. 2001 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 260.1960, 260.2110, 260.5430.

1. INTRODUCTION
The popularity of the FresnelKirchhoff and the
RayleighSommerfeld formulations of the scalar diffraction theory of light stems from their applicability and
relative ease of use for instrumental optics. An integral
theorem of Kirchhoff13 is the basis for the mathematical
formulation of scalar diffraction. Several authors4,5 have
critically analyzed and refined scalar diffraction theory.
Maggi and Rubinowicz6 put Youngs boundary diffraction
wave theory on a firm theoretical foundation, which was
further developed by Miyamoto and Wolf6 and more recently by Marchand and Wolf.7,8
Debye,9 Kottler,10 Stratton and Chu,11 Wolf,12 Richards and Wolf,13 and Tai14 have described the diffraction of electromagnetic waves. More recently, theories of
electromagnetic wave diffraction under particular physical conditions were compared and evaluated by Karczewski and Wolf.15,16 Karczewski and Wolf also investigated the degree of polarization of the diffracted field
when the incident light was unpolarized. The formalism
of Richards and Wolf was applied to confocal fluorescence
microscopy by Visser and Wiersma.17 These developments are based on the StrattonChu integral,11 which is
a vectorial equivalent of the FresnelKirchhoff diffraction
integral with Kirchhoff boundary conditions. Diffraction
theory of electromagnetic waves from apertures in a conducting screen is discussed by Bekefi,18 who gives more
references. Diffraction theory from apertures in conducting screens is also found in several texts19,20; the list of
references given here is not exhaustive.
In this paper we propose a modification of Huygenss
scalar secondary sources based on Maxwells equations to
0740-3232/2001/102585-09$15.00

account for the vector properties of electromagnetic

waves. The propagation and diffraction of the waves is
then described by a method that is consistent with Huygenss principle.
The theoretical work in this paper is based on certain
field equivalence theorems that are due to
However, these theorems are not
Schelkunoff.21,22
widely known. They are briefly summarized in the beginning of Section 4, where the vector secondary sources
are defined.
The complete solution of the inhomogeneous wave
equation in free space for the vector potential consists of a
volume integral over sources contained within a volume
of space and a surface integral of the field and its normal
derivative that are present on the surface of that volume.
Traditionally in optics, diffraction is formulated by using
only the surface integral (Kirchhoff formulation), where
the surface includes the aperture plane. We propose an
alternative approach. As will be shown, it is possible to
describe vector diffraction phenomena by placement of
appropriate hypothetical vector secondary sources in a
diffracting aperture. The sources are employed in the inhomogeneous wave equation to solve for the vector potential at a field point beyond the aperture. With these as
the only sources present, one obtains the vector potential
by performing an all-space volume integration over these
sources; see Jackson.19 The surface integral is zero,
since there are no sources at infinity. From the solution
of the vector potential, the fields can be derived uniquely.
Alternatively, a direct formulation in terms of the fields is
also developed and is referred to as a vector Huygens
Fresnel theory.
2001 Optical Society of America

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J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

The theory discussed in this paper is for apertures

larger than a wavelength situated in dark (perfectly absorbing) screens and for points of observation in the righthalf-space at distances greater than a wavelength beyond
the aperture. Some of the results contained here were
presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America.23,24 For validation, in Section 8 we
show examples of common diffraction patterns produced
by the new theory and reproduce the known results.

2. HUYGENSS CONSTRUCTION FOR

VECTOR WAVES AND VECTOR
DIFFRACTION

They are hypothetical point sources,

They radiate primarily in the forward direction
an obliquity factor), and
They include the vector properties of light.

Electromagnetic point sources are closely approximated by infinitesimal electric and magnetic dipoles. Individually, each source radiates into 4 sr in the form of a
doughnut-shaped pattern and alone would not be appropriate as a vector secondary source. However, it turns
out that all three requirements can be fulfilled by a
unique secondary source derived through the application
of the boundary conditions to a set of modified Maxwell
equations. As will be shown, the application of the
boundary conditions to the set of modified Maxwell equations results in an infinitesimal electric dipole at a right
angle to a corresponding magnetic dipole that has all the
required features of a valid vector secondary source. We
shall refer to this combination as an EM dipole (hypothetical and mutually noninteracting).
The secondary waves emanating from these sources are
vector waves. Following Huygenss construction, the envelope of all these secondary waves will yield the future
shape of the wave front, including the orientation of the
electric E and magnetic H fields.

3. MODIFIED MAXWELL EQUATIONS

To set up the framework of the hypothetical secondary
sources, we modify the Maxwell equations by introducing
a hypothetical magnetic (monopole) charge density, m ,
and a corresponding magnetic current density, Jm . Several authors19,2527 have discussed such modifications.
The modified Maxwell equations are
E

E Jm o

H
t

H Je o

(1)

E
t

Type of Source
Electric
Magnetic

Equivalent for Conversion

Ee
Hm

He
Em

Jm

Je
Jm

m
t

e
m

o
o

o
o

Ae
Am

(3)

similarly to the terms e and Je for the conservation of

electric charge, namely,

In Huygenss principle, the hypothetical secondary

sources are scalar in nature and produce scalar spherical
waves. For electromagnetic theory, the hypothetical secondary sources are modified to describe vector wave
propagation. The desirable properties of such sources
are as follows:
1.
2.
(with
3.

Table 1. Dual Replacements of Electric and

Magnetic Sources

Je

e
t

0.

The subscripts e and m are used to identify the specific

sources (electric or magnetic) of the EM quantities cited.
Introduction of the fictitious terms m and Jm also introduce symmetry into the Maxwell equations. The fields
that appear in Eqs. (1) and (2) consist of the fields that
are due to both electric and magnetic contributions:
E Ee Em ,

H He Hm .

(2)

The terms m and Jm obey the conservation of magnetic

charge

(5)

Evidently, the modified Maxwell equations (1) and (2) can

be separated into two parts, one with only electric sources
and the other with only magnetic sources. In fact, the
two parts obey the principle of duality,2729 which states
that it is possible to pass from one equation to another by
a suitable interchange of dual quantities, namely, the
electric and the magnetic quantities. Equations of a particular gauge (either Lorentz or Coulomb) with only electric sources may be converted to those with magnetic
sources and vice versa by using the dual replacements
given in Table 1. In any particular gauge, we can define
the total vector potential and the total scalar potential
analogous to Eqs. (5):
A Ae Am ,

e m .

(6)

4. VECTOR SECONDARY SOURCES

A brief review of Schelkunoff s induction theorem and
equivalence theorem is adapted from Jordan and
Balmain.27 In EM field theory it is often convenient to
specify electric and magnetic current densities as the
sources of the fields. The induction theorem deals with
two homogeneous regions: 1 , 1 , 1 and 2 , 2 , 2 ,
where region 1 is enclosed by a closed surface S and contains the sources that produce the field incident at the
boundary. The incident field sets up reflected and transmitted fields. The induction theorem indicates that the
discontinuities in the fields E and H across surface S can
be produced by (induced) current densities on the surface
S given by
Je n Ht t Ht r n Ht i ,

(4)

Jm n Et t Et r n Et i ,

(7)
(8)

where n is the unit normal in the direction of the transmitted wave, the subscript t indicates tangential compo-

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

nents, and the appropriate superscripts label incident, reflected, and transmitted fields.
The equivalence theorem follows directly from the induction theorem. However, in this case the medium in
region 2 is the same as the medium in region 1, that is,
the material constants are the same in both regions, and
are separated by the closed surface S. Thus there is no
reflected wave. The required hypothetical surface current densities are
Je n Ht t n Ht i ,

(9)

Jm n Et t n Et i .

(10)

These equivalent hypothetical current densities on the

surface S combine to form the EM dipole secondary
sources. They produce fields outside the closed surface S
that are identical to the fields produced by the original
sources while at the same time producing no fields inside
S. These theorems prove to be powerful tools in solving
EM problems that involve radiation from apertures.
The equivalence theorem is employed in formulating
the vector diffraction problem. The surface of the entire
wave front radiated by the original EM sources is taken
as the surface S, and the induced electric and magnetic
current densities combine to form the vector secondary
EM dipoles on this surface. When the wave front is incident on the open area of the diffracting aperture, the combined radiation of the EM dipoles exposed by the diffracting aperture generates the diffracted field.
The secondary EM dipole strengths are specified in
terms of the electric and magnetic current densities of
Eqs. (9) and (10) through the boundary conditions applied
to the incident wave front itself:
n E

se

n E Jsm ,

n H

sm

n H Jse ,

(11)
(12)

where n is the outward unit normal to the primary wave

front diverging from its source. The extra subscript s on
se , sm , Jse , and Jsm , indicates surface values on the
wave front. Only the fields on the wave front appear in
Eqs. (11) and (12). The fields inside S are set to zero, so
no backward propagation toward the source region exists.
Although the secondary sources that we seek are hypothetical, the incident primary wave front is real. We suspect that its electric and magnetic fields are transverse to
the direction of propagation. As such, n E n H
0, implying that se sm 0. In turn, the surface
current densities, namely, Jse and Jsm , are solenoidal,
[see Eqs. (3) and (4)], indicating thereby that they are also
transverse to the outward unit normal of the primary
wave front. We make this explicit by using an extra subscript, , as in
n E Jsm ,

n H Jse .

(13)

It is helpful to note for the special case of a plane wave

front with propagation vector k ( /c)s , where s is the
unit vector in the direction of propagation, that the unit
normal is n s . Or, for a spherical wave front, n is in
the direction of the radius vector, n r .

2587

It is hypothesized that the EM dipoles are uniformly

distributed over the primary wave front. The magnitude
and direction of the constituent electric and magnetic dipoles are chosen to be consistent with Eqs. (12) and (13).
In the study of radiation from an elementary electric
dipole, as described in standard textbooks, the current
density with harmonic time dependence is
Je r, t Je r exp i t ,

(14)

where is the circular frequency and

Je r i pe r .

(15)

pe stands for the electric dipole moment. The Dirac delta

function (r) (x) (y) (z) is three dimensional and
describes the spatial location of the dipole at the origin.
An expression similar to Eq. (14) can also be written for
the magnetic dipole:
Jm r i pm r .

(16)

To convert the volume current densities of Eqs. (15) and

(16) into surface densities requires a proportionality constant with units of length. The choice of this constant is
largely arbitrary. A natural parameter for the present
problem is the wavelength . Thus for the respective
surface current densities we choose
n H Jse i2 cpe r rs ,

(17)

n E Jsm i2 cpm r rs ,

(18)

where the relationship 2 c has been used. From

Eqs. (17) and (18) the magnitude and direction of the respective electric and magnetic dipoles can be identified as
i
pe rs
n
rs H rs ,
2c

(19)

i
n
rs E rs ,
pm rs
2c

(20)

where rs denotes points on the surface of the primary

wave front. Observe that the ratio of the magnitudes of
the electric and magnetic dipoles equals the admittance of
free space:
pe
pm

H
E

(21)

Equations (19) and (20) define the hypothetical EM dipole at rs on the primary wave front. The directions of
pe in Eq. (19) and pm in Eq. (20) are mutually perpendicular, and these dipoles are hypothetical and noninteracting. Both are tangential to the primary wave front
and describe the underlying structure of the EM dipole;
see Fig. 1. The EM dipole so defined is an indivisible
unit and is the hypothetical vector Huygens secondary
point source mentioned in Section 2. In Section 5 we
study the scalar and vector potentials of this vector secondary source. A diffraction theory of vector waves as
mentioned at the beginning of this paper is then formulated in terms of these potentials.

2588

J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

A r Ae r Am r ,

(28)

which fulfills the inhomogeneous Helmholtz equation

2 A r k 2 A r o Je r o Jm r .

(29)

A formal solution of Eq. (29) has the form

A r
Fig. 1. Orientation of the EM dipole at rs on the primary wave
front (solid circle). A source of a monochromatic spherical wave
is located at S 0 ; point of observation P is shown with position
vector r. Difference vector Rs r rs makes an angle s with
n (rs ), the unit normal to the wave front. pe , pm , electric and
magnetic dipole moments, respectively.

5. SCALAR AND VECTOR POTENTIALS OF

THE VECTOR SECONDARY SOURCES
We continue to assume time-harmonic dependence of the
sources and fields, as first described in Eq. (14). For the
transverse current densities found in Section 4, it is more
appropriate to use the Coulomb gauge to obtain the EM
potentials. As discussed in standard texts,19,30 radiating
EM waves are influenced only by the transverse part J of
the current density, the source of the vector potential.
For the electric current density,
Ae r k Ae r o Je r .
2

(30)

A r, t A r exp i t ,

(31)

and Eq. (30) is consistent with the requirements of causality.

6. ELECTROMAGNETIC DIPOLE FIELDS

(33)

(24)

with the difference vector Rs r rs .

It is assumed that no other sources are present except
the ones given in Eqs. (32) and (33). Hence, with no
boundary surfaces, the all-space evaluation of Eq. (30)
gives the usual form of the vector potential for the electric
and magnetic dipoles:
i
AEM r, rs Ae Am
o pe o pm
4

Ae r .

exp ikR s
Rs

(34)

where R s is the magnitude of Rs . The vector potential is

given as a function of field point r that is due to the EM
dipole located at rs on the primary wave front. Calculation of the fields in Eqs. (26) and (27) requires a curl operation with respect to r on the vector potentials, which is
carried out for constants pe and pm . For the radiated
field (the r2 terms are neglected) we get
EEM r, rs

(27)
The total vector potential is

d 3 r ,

provided that no boundary surfaces are present.19 Recall

that, with the time-harmonic assumption, we have expressed

(26)
H r He r Hm r i Am r

r r

Jm Rs i pm Rs ,

Am r ,

exp ik r r

(32)

(25)

o Jm r

o Je r

Je Rs i pe Rs ,

As before, this vector potential is entirely transverse:

Am Am .
In Section 4 we found that the electric and magnetic
charge densities are zero. Therefore the corresponding
scalar potentials are either constant or zero and the longitudinal components of the respective current densities
are zero. The associated scalar potentials influence only
the longitudinal components of the fields, and these components are zero. The radiated electromagnetic fields of
the vector secondary source are derived from the (transverse) vector potentials discussed above, and these fields
are given by the prescriptions
E r Ee r Em r i Ae r

allspace

(23)

Corresponding to Eq. (23), the Coulomb condition for

magnetic sources is
Am r 0.

(22)

implies that the vector potential itself is also entirely

transverse, Ae Ae , although generally it is not made
explicit. Similarly, for the magnetic current density,
2 Am r k 2 Am r o Jm r .

The EM dipole fields are found through the vector potentials whose sources are the transverse current densities of
Eq. (29). Having defined the EM dipole by Eqs. (19) and
(20), we find the corresponding current densities:

In this gauge, the Coulomb condition

Ae r 0

k2

exp ikR s

4o

Rs

o
o

p R

R
s
e
s

p ,
R
s
m

(35)

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

2589

direction; and there are small fractions in the directions

/2 . The figure is rotationally symmetric
about the 0 axis.

7. VECTOR DIFFRACTION THEORY

Fig. 2. Mapping of the EM dipoles normalized irradiance on a

spherical wave front in the far zone (represented by the outermost ring) as a function of the angle between the direction of observation and n , the outward unit normal to the primary wave
front. (Here n lies along the 0 direction.) The electric dipole is located at the origin, and its axis is perpendicular to the
page. The magnetic dipole is also located at the origin, oriented
in the vertical direction, and lies in the plane of the page. The
Poynting vector points radially outward. The electric field vector is tangent to the spherical wave front and is perpendicular to
the plane of the page. The magnetic field vector is also tangent
to the wave front but lies in the plane of the page. The normalized magnitude of the Poynting vector is proportional to the
length of the chord from the origin to the cardioid along the radius to the point of tangency. The plot is rotationally symmetric
about n .

HEM r, rs

k2

exp ikR s

4o

Rs

o
o

p R

R
s
m
s

p ,
R
s
e

(36)

where the dipole moments pe and pm are those defined

respectively in Eqs. (19) and (20). Rs r rs ; R s is its
is the corresponding unit vector. The
magnitude and R

The diffraction geometry is shown in Fig. 3(a). It shows

a monochromatic point source S 0 producing a wave front
W incident onto an open aperture A in an opaque (dark)
planar screen S. Point of observation P is shown behind
the screen. The primary source S 0 is in the left-halfspace, and the point of observation P is restricted to the
right-half-space with respect to the screen S and at distances greater than a wavelength beyond the aperture.
Following Huygens, we regard the surface of the primary wave front to be uniformly populated by the (hypothetical) vector secondary sources, namely, the EM dipoles; see Eqs. (19) and (20). For the study of diffraction,
the EM dipole is to be taken as one indivisible unit. The
fields from such a unit are given by Eqs. (35) and (36).
The diffracting aperture A exposes some of the EM dipoles, and the screen blocks the rest.
Now the entire problem of diffraction can be described
by an equivalent geometry. The primary source S 0 , the
wave front W, and the opaque screen S are no longer
present; only the exposed EM dipoles and the point of observation P are; see Fig. (3b). Since these exposed EM
dipoles are the only sources that are present in the
equivalent geometry, we can perform an all-spaceunbounded evaluation of Eq. (30) to obtain the vector potential A(r) at the point of observation P. As mentioned
above, the surface integral is zero. This procedure
amounts to summing the component contributions [Eq.
(34)] over all the relevant points rs in the aperture to construct the total A(r). Thus

EM dipole fields have the form of an expanding spherical

wave from the point rs . The fields EEM , HEM and the
from a right-hand triad of mutually perunit vector R
s
pendicular vectors.
The time-averaged Poynting vector is

SEM

k4
8 2 o o

pe pm 1 cos s

R s2

R
s

(37)

and points in the direction of the difference vector Rs .

pe , pm , and R s are the respective magnitudes of the as
sociated vector quantities, and s is the angle made by R
s
with the normal n (rs ) to the wave front at the point rs ;
see Fig. 1. Observe that the angular dependence in Eq.
(37) is the same as the obliquity factor that appears in the
FresnelKirchhoff diffraction theory of scalar waves; see,
for example, Ref. 1. The electric and the magnetic timeaveraged energy densities also have the same angular dependence.
Figure 2 shows the magnitude of the time-averaged
Poynting vector in a polar plot. In this figure pe is perpendicular to the plane of the figure and is located at the
origin. pm is perpendicular to pe , oriented in the vertical direction, also located at the origin, and lies in the
plane of the page. Maximum radiation is in the forward,
0, direction; no radiation is in the backward, ,

A r

Ae r, rs Am r, rs d 3 rs ,

(38)

ESD

where ESD under the volume integral stands for the exposed secondary dipoles. Since the exposed secondary dipoles reside only on the surface of the primary wave front,
the volume integral effectively reduces to a surface integral. For example, if the primary wave front is a plane
wave propagating along the z axis, then the volume distribution of EM dipoles may be described by the dipoles in
the x, y plane at (z z 0 ), where z 0 is the location of the
plane wave along the z axis. For a spherical wave the exposed dipoles reside on the surface of the sphere at (r
r 0 ), where r 0 is the radius of the primary wave front.
The corresponding fields, E(r) and H(r), are found by
differentiation according to the prescriptions of Eqs. (26)
and (27), respectively. These fields permit us to calculate
the time-average Poynting vector and the irradiance at
the field point r.
However, when one is using a digital computer, taking
derivatives is not the best way to compute fields. An alternative way to compute the fields at r is to perform the
sum over EM dipole fields, namely, EEM(r, rs ) of Eq. (35)
and HEM(r, rs ) of Eq. (36) over all the relevant points rs to
construct the total fields E(r) and H(r) at point of observation P at r. Thus the calculation of the vector diffrac-

2590

J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

Fig. 3. (a) Diffraction geometry. The primary source of a monochromatic spherical wave is located at S 0 . The primary wave front is
W. A dark screen, S, contains a clear aperture A. The point of observation is located at P. (b) EM dipoles are represented as small
open circles along the arc of the wave front in the geometry of (a). Only the EM dipoles exposed by the aperture are shown; they contribute to the diffracted field at P. Primary source S 0 , primary wave front W, the open aperture A, and dark screen S have been removed; they are shown as dotted lines.

tion of EM waves is considerably simplified. In the literature a discrete dipole approximation has been used
successfully in describing scattered light.31,32
Although from the computational point of view the procedure described in the preceding paragraph is useful,
formally we may wish to express the total fields in terms
of the fields of Eqs. (35) and (36). The electric field at the
point of observation r is
E r

E r

EPW

Rs

i
2 2

EPW

H r n r
R
s
s
s

R
n r E r
R
s
s
s
s
exp ikR s

H rs

i
2 2

HEM r, rs d 3 rs

EPW

n r
R
s
s

exp ikR s
Rs

d 3 rs ,

i
2 2

R
H r
E rs R
s
s
s
n rs

(41)

E r R

R
s
s
s

EPW

exp ikR s
Rs

i
2 2

EPW

o
o

EPW

exp ikR s
Rs

d 3 rs ,

H r R

R
s
s
s

exp ikR s
Rs

d 3 rs

(44)

n r
H rs 1 R
s
s

(40)

where EPW under the volume integral stands for exposed

parts of the primary wave front. Since the fields that appear in the integrands reside only on the surface of the
primary wave front, the volume integrals of Eqs. (39) and
(40) effectively reduce to surface integrals over the wave

(42)

(43)

E r
R
s
s

d 3 rs

n r
(E rs 1 R
s
s

E r [R
n r ])
R
s
s
s
s

H r

ESD

n
rs E rs ,

H r
R
s
s

and the magnetic field is

d 3 rs ,
(39)

H r

the diffracted fields may also be expressed as

EEM r, rs d 3 rs

ESD

front as described for the vector potential A(r) in the discussion following Eq. (38). In Eqs. (39) and (40) the EM
dipoles were expressed in terms of the fields of the primary wave front; see Eqs. (19) and (20). However, since
the fields of the wave front obey

H r [R
n r
R
s
s
s
s

exp ikR s
Rs

d 3 rs ,
(45)

so the diffracted fields E(r) and H(r) may be calculated

from the fields of the incident wave front in the aperture.

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

As a reminder we note that Rs r rs , where R s is its

is the corresponding unit vector. The
magnitude and R
s
volume integrals in Eqs. (39) and (40) and in Eqs. (42)
(43) and (43)(45) effectively reduce to surface integrals
over the wave front only, regardless of its shape. A similar
set of equations can be found in Ref. 33.
A. Limitations and Approximations
In the Kirchhoff and the RayleighSommerfeld diffraction theories the primary wave front incident on the aperture is regarded as undisturbed by the aperture
(Kirchhoff-type boundary conditions) for the calculation of
diffracted field amplitudes in the right half-space. It is
well known that the presence of the aperture does perturb
the incoming field. These considerations also apply to
the procedure described in this paper for calculating the
electric and magnetic fields at r. However, if the exact
boundary conditions are known, the proposed theory
could be used to calculate the exact diffracted fields.
The next caution pertains to the size of the aperture.
The EM dipoles are described as point dipoles. However,
the approach to diffraction described in this paper can be
valid only for aperture dimensions that are comparable to
or larger than the wavelength of light.
The usual appearance of the quadratic-phase factor for
Fresnel diffraction and the Fourier relation for Fraunhofer diffraction in relation to the EM dipoles is described
by McCalmont.33 This explicit distinction for the two
types of diffraction is not necessary in the computer calculation of the coherent superposition of EM dipole fields.
Computer calculation generates the appropriate diffraction pattern regardless of the placement of the point of observation r relative to the dimensions of the aperture.
B. Undisturbed Primary Wave
In the HuygensFresnel theory of diffraction the primary
spherical wave front is divided into annular regions called

Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001 / J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

2591

the Fresnel half-period zones. The contributions of all

the zones with the assumed obliquity factor are coherently summed at the point of observation P. The result
so obtained is compared with the original (undisturbed)
primary wave front arriving at the same point P. This
comparison compels us to conclude that the secondary
(scalar) waves oscillate a quarter of a period ahead of the
primary wave and that the amplitudes of the secondary
waves are in the ratio 1: to the amplitudes of the primary.
The above procedure is not mandatory in our present
context, owing to the fundamental theorem, Schelkunoff s
field equivalence theorem.21,22 It is described in detail in
the texts by Jordan and Balmain,27 Harrington,28
Johnk,29 and Yamashita.34
We can apply a special case of the field equivalence
theorem to the problem of the diffraction of light by identifying the closed surface C with the full primary wave
front W. The appropriate placement of the charge and
current densities on the surface of the primary wave front
is accomplished through the boundary conditions [Eqs.
(7)(9)] of Section 4. The field equivalence theorem assures us that the fields outside W, namely, at the point of
observation r, are the same as the fields produced by the
original source. The theorem also states that the fields
due to the secondary (vector) sources placed on W add up
to zero inside W.

8. ELEMENTARY EXAMPLES OF THE

CALCULATION OF VECTOR DIFFRACTION
In support of the validity of the approach to diffraction
proposed in this paper, a comparison with published results and expected diffraction patterns under commonly

Fig. 4. Axial distribution of the normalized field amplitude beyond circular apertures of diameters D calculated by the vector Huygens
Fresnel model as a function of distance z from the aperture. (a) D 1, (b) D 3, (c) D 6, (d) D 10. The incident field is
a plane wave of unit amplitude falling normally onto the plane of the aperture.

2592

J. Opt. Soc. Am. A / Vol. 18, No. 10 / October 2001

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

Fig. 5. Irradiance profiles along the horizontal y axis on an observation screen at distances (a) 5, (b) 100, (c) 500, (d) 15,000 that are
due to diffraction by a rectangular slit and produced by the vector HuygensFresnel model. Slit width, W 20. The first zero of the
Fraunhofer pattern is at 2.81. The incident field is a plane wave of unit amplitude falling normally onto the plane of the aperture and
polarized in the vertical x direction. The irradiance profile is given as a function of wavelengths from the origin of the observation plane
along the horizontal y axis.

known circumstances is in order. An additional benefit

of the proposed method is that, along with the detected irradiance, the EM fields are also obtained in the diffraction pattern. The diffraction patterns are computed by
the method of summation of fields due to the EM dipoles
as prescribed in Eqs. (42)(43) and Eqs. (44)(45).
As illustrations, we consider a circular aperture of diameter D/ and a slit aperture of width w/. Each aperture in turn is placed in a planar dark screen in the x, y
plane with the origin at the midpoint of the aperture.
The time-averaged Poynting vector S is in the direction
of the unit vector r in the radial direction. The irradiance I in the plane of observation is computed by the definition I S n . For a plane of observation normal
to the z axis, n k . This particular definition of irradiance is necessitated by the fact that, if the dimensions of
the apertures are comparable to the wavelength of the incident radiation, the diffraction patterns consequently
have a very large angular spread. However, when the
angles involved are small enough that tan sin ,
the scalar product can be ignored and we may set I
S , as is usually defined; see Sec. 8.4 of Born and
Wolf.1
First consider a circular aperture centered about the z
axis. Figure 4 shows the absolute value of the diffracted
field amplitude as a function of the distance z/ along the
axis. The figure shows four cases in which the diameter
D/ of the aperture is given. These curves compare favorably with the ones given by Marchand and Wolf8 and
Wolf 35; the comparison is qualitative, since no numerical
values are available.
Next consider a rectangular one-dimensional aperture
of width w/ 20. Figure 5 shows several plots of the
irradiance at several distances z/ from the rectangular

aperture. It shows a progression of diffraction patterns

from the Fresnel region through the Fraunhofer region, in
agreement with known theory.

9. CONCLUSIONS
Vector diffraction of electromagnetic waves is considerably simplified by being described in terms of vector Huygens secondary sources, namely, the EM dipoles defined
in terms of the fields of the primary wave front. Diffraction of EM waves for apertures larger than the wavelength situated in dark screens with points of observation
restricted to the right-half-space beyond the aperture and
at distances greater than a wavelength is formulated in
terms of the vector potential. Also, it is formulated in
terms of the fields and is referred to as the vector
HuygensFresnel theory. An additional benefit of the
proposed method is that, along with the detected irradiance, the EM fields are also obtained in the diffraction
pattern. Thus vector diffraction can be looked upon as a
simple summation of EM dipole fields.
The EM dipole is a conceptual device with which the
diffraction of EM waves may be studied, but the key concept is the pair of hypothetical current densities derived
from Schelkunoff s theorem.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the efforts of Jim
Wilson of Tucson, Arizona, in the development of the computer simulation code used to validate the theory presented in this paper and in the production of Figs. 4 and
5.
J.
F.
McCalmonts
e-mail
john.mccalmont@sn.wpafb.af.mil.

address

is

A. S. Marathay and J. F. McCalmont

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