The Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics · 1958 · 37 citations · 0 references
Electromagnetic WaveEngineeringPhysicsGeometryWave OpticGeometrical OpticWave PropagationApplied PhysicsHelical Coordinate SystemClassical OpticsTwistor TheoryComputational ElectromagneticsElementary Properties
A helical coordinate system is described and its elementary properties discussed. Several electromagnetic problems are solved as illustrations of the use of the system. Its advantages are twofold: firstly, it enables problems involving helical symmetry to be solved exactly, and secondly, it shows in a new light problems which have previously been solved in cylindrical coordinates. The closing section discusses points arising out of the examples treated; in particular it is found that the characteristic equation for wave propagation in a helical system is always identical with that for an appropriate cylindrical analogue, if the usual condition that fields must repeat at intervals of 2π in the azimuthal dimension is removed.