Fourier Series

1
Fourier Series The Fourier Transform 

• What is the Fourier Transform?
•   
• Fourier Cosine Series for even functions
•  
• Fourier Sine Series for odd functions
•  
• The continuous limit the Fourier transform (and
  its inverse) 
• Some transform examples and the Dirac delta
  function

Prof. Rick Trebino, Georgia Tech
2
What do we hope to achieve with the Fourier
Transform?

• We desire a measure of the frequencies present in
  a wave. This will
• lead to a definition of the term, the spectrum.

Plane waves have only one frequency, w.
Light electric field
Time
This light wave has many frequencies. And the
frequency increases in time (from red to blue).
It will be nice if our measure also tells us when
each frequency occurs.
3
Lord Kelvin on Fouriers theorem

• Fouriers theorem is not only one of the most
  beautiful results of modern analysis, but it may
  be said to furnish an indispensable instrument in
  the treatment of nearly every recondite question
  in modern physics.
• Lord Kelvin

4
Joseph Fourier
Fourier was obsessed with the physics of heat and
developed the Fourier series and transform to
model heat-flow problems.
Joseph Fourier 1768 - 1830
5
Anharmonic waves are sums of sinusoids.

• Consider the sum of two sine waves (i.e.,
  harmonic waves) of different frequencies

The resulting wave is periodic, but not harmonic.
Essentially all waves are anharmonic.
6
Fourier decomposing functions
sin(wt)
sin(3wt)

• Here, we write a
• square wave as
• a sum of sine waves.

sin(5wt)
7
Any function can be written as thesum of an even
and an odd function.
8
Fourier Cosine Series

• Because cos(mt) is an even function (for all m),
  we can write an even function, f(t), as
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
• where the set Fm m 0, 1, is a set of
  coefficients that define the series.
•  
• And where well only worry about the function
  f(t) over the interval
• (p,p).

9
The Kronecker delta function

•  

10
Finding the coefficients, Fm, in a Fourier Cosine
Series

• Fourier Cosine Series
•  
• To find Fm, multiply each side by cos(mt), where
  m is another integer, and integrate
•  
• But
• So ? only the m
  m term contributes
• Dropping the from the m
• ? yields the
• coefficients for

11
Fourier Sine Series

• Because sin(mt) is an odd function (for all m),
  we can write
• any odd function, f(t), as
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
• where the set Fm m 0, 1, is a set of
  coefficients that define the series.
•  
•  
• where well only worry about the function f(t)
  over the interval (p,p).

12
Finding the coefficients, Fm, in a Fourier Sine
Series

• Fourier Sine Series
•  
• To find Fm, multiply each side by sin(mt), where
  m is another integer, and integrate
•  
• But
• So
• ? only the m m
  term contributes
•  
• Dropping the from the m ? yields the
  coefficients
• for any f(t)!

13
Fourier Series
So if f(t) is a general function, neither even
nor odd, it can be written

• even component odd
  component
•  
• where
•  
•  
• and

14
We can plot the coefficients of a Fourier Series
1 .5 0
Fm vs. m
5
25
10
20
15
30
m
We really need two such plots, one for the cosine
series and another for the sine series.
15
Discrete Fourier Series vs. Continuous Fourier
Transform
Let the integer m become a real number and let
the coefficients, Fm, become a function F(m).
F(m)
Again, we really need two such plots, one for the
cosine series and another for the sine series.
16
The Fourier Transform

• Consider the Fourier coefficients. Lets define
  a function F(m) that incorporates both cosine and
  sine series coefficients, with the sine series
  distinguished by making it the imaginary
  component
• Lets now allow f(t) to range from to , so
  well have to integrate from to , and lets
  redefine m to be the frequency, which well now
  call w
• F(w) is called the Fourier Transform of f(t). It
  contains equivalent information to that in f(t).
  We say that f(t) lives in the time domain, and
  F(w) lives in the frequency domain. F(w) is just
  another way of looking at a function or wave.

F(m) º Fm i Fm
The Fourier Transform
17
The Inverse Fourier Transform

• The Fourier Transform takes us from f(t) to F(w).
  How about going back?
•  
• Recall our formula for the Fourier Series of f(t)
  
• Now transform the sums to integrals from to
  , and again replace Fm with F(w). Remembering
  the fact that we introduced a factor of i (and
  including a factor of 2 that just crops up), we
  have

Inverse Fourier Transform
18
The Fourier Transform and its Inverse

• The Fourier Transform and its Inverse
•  
•  
•  
• So we can transform to the frequency domain and
  back. Interestingly, these transformations are
  very similar.
•  
• There are different definitions of these
  transforms. The 2p can occur in several places,
  but the idea is generally the same.

FourierTransform  
Inverse Fourier Transform
19
Fourier Transform Notation

• There are several ways to denote the Fourier
  transform of a function.
•  
• If the function is labeled by a lower-case
  letter, such as f, we can write
•   f(t) F(w)
•  
• If the function is already labeled by an
  upper-case letter, such as E, we can write
•  
• or
•  

Sometimes, this symbol is used instead of the
arrow
n
20
The Spectrum

• We define the spectrum, S(w), of a wave E(t) to
  be

This is the measure of the frequencies present in
a light wave.
21
Example the Fourier Transform of arectangle
function rect(t)
22
Sinc(x) and why it's important

• Sinc(x/2) is the Fourier transform of a rectangle
  function.
• Sinc2(x/2) is the Fourier transform of a triangle
  function.
• Sinc2(ax) is the diffraction pattern from a slit.
• It just crops up everywhere...

23
The Fourier Transform of the trianglefunction,
D(t), is sinc2(w/2)
The triangle function is just what it sounds
like.
Sometimes people use L(t), too, for the triangle
function.
1
1
n
w
t
0
0
1/2
-1/2
Well prove this when we learn about convolution.
24
Example the Fourier Transform of adecaying
exponential exp(-at) (t gt 0)
A complex Lorentzian!
25
Example the Fourier Transform of aGaussian,
exp(-at2), is itself!
The details are a HW problem!
n
26
The Dirac delta function

• Unlike the Kronecker delta-function, which is a
  function of two integers, the Dirac delta
  function is a function of a real variable, t.

27
The Dirac delta function

• Its best to think of the delta function as the
  limit of a series of peaked continuous functions.

fm(t) m exp-(mt)2/vp
f1(t)
t
28
Dirac d-function Properties
29
The Fourier Transform of d(t) is 1.
0
And the Fourier Transform of 1 is 2pd(w)
2pd(w)
w
0
30
The Fourier transform of exp(iw0 t)
F exp(iw0t)
w
w0
0
The function exp(iw0t) is the essential component
of Fourier analysis. It is a pure frequency.
31
The Fourier transform of cos(w0 t) 
32
Fourier Transform Symmetry Properties
Expanding the Fourier transform of a function,
f(t)
Expanding more, noting that
if O(t) is an odd function
0 if Ref(t) is odd 0 if
Imf(t) is even


ReF(w)
0 if Imf(t) is odd 0 if
Ref(t) is even


ImF(w)


Even functions of w
Odd functions of w
33
Some functions dont have Fourier transforms.

• The condition for the existence of a given F(w)
  is
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  
• Functions that do not asymptote to zero in both
  the and
• directions generally do not have Fourier
  transforms.
• So well assume that all functions of interest go
  to zero at .