Superposition of Plane Waves

We now study wave packets in two dimensions by asking what the superposition of two plane sine waves looks like. If the two waves have different wavenumbers, but their wave vectors point in the same direction, the results are identical to those presented in the previous chapter, except that the wave packets are indefinitely elongated without change in form in the direction perpendicular to the wave vector. The wave packets produced in this case march along in the direction of the wave vectors and thus appear to a stationary observer like a series of passing pulses with broad lateral extent.

Superimposing two plane waves which have the same frequency results in a stationary wave packet through which the individual wave fronts pass. This wave packet is also elongated indefinitely in some direction, but the direction of elongation depends on the dispersion relation for the waves being considered. One can think of such wave packets as steady beams, which guide the individual phase waves in some direction, but don't themselves change with time. By superimposing multiple plane waves, all with the same frequency, one can actually produce a single stationary beam, just as one can produce an isolated pulse by superimposing multiple waves with wave vectors pointing in the same direction.