electric_field_amplitude

plasmapy.formulary.laser.electric_field_amplitude( intensity: Annotated[Quantity, Unit('W / m2')], ) → Annotated[Quantity, Unit('V / m')][source]

Calculate the electric field amplitude \(E_0\) from the intensity \(I\) of a laser.

The electric field amplitude of an electromagnetic plane wave in vacuum is calculated using:

\[E_0=\sqrt{\frac{2I}{c ε_0}},\]

where \(c\) is the speed of light and \(ε_0\) is the permittivity of free space.

Aliases: E0_

Parameters:: intensity (Quantity) – Intensity of the laser pulse (convertible to W / m²).
Returns:: E – Maximum electric field amplitude for the intensity provided.
Return type:: Quantity

Notes

For details, see Ling et al. [2016].

Examples

>>> import astropy.units as u
>>> electric_field_amplitude(1e-3 * u.watt / u.m**2)  # Electric Field Amplitude
<Quantity 0.8680211 V / m>