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Media, Electromagnetic Characteristics

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 354 Accesses

Definition

Media, electromagnetic characteristics. Macroscopic permittivity and permeability properties of media.

Introduction

When electromagnetic wave propagates in some medium other than vacuum, since the characteristic wavelength is several orders larger than the atoms of which the medium is composed, the detailed behavior of the fields over atomic distance becomes irrelevant. What do matter are the quantities averaged over the atomic scale, including the macroscopic fields and macroscopic sources. Such treatment implies that the inhomogeneous medium is essentially replaced by a homogeneous one with macroscopic permittivity and permeability (Jackson, 1998).

Macroscopic properties

In macroscopic media, the electric displacement field \( \mathbf{ D} \) and magnetic field \( \mathbf{ H} \) are related to the electric field \( \mathbf{ E} \) and magnetic induction \( \mathbf{ B} \)through the macroscopically averaged electric dipole, magnetic dipole, electric quadrupole, and...

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Bibliography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang University, 38 Zheda Road, 310027, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China

    Yang Du

Authors
  1. Yang Du
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yang Du .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA

    Eni G. Njoku

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Du, Y. (2014). Media, Electromagnetic Characteristics. In: Njoku, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Remote Sensing. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36699-9_142

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