Electromagnetic modes of an inhomogeneous sphere.

In many cases the electromagnetic modes of a sphere can be obtained exactly. Special simplifications occur when the conductivity, complex permittivity, and complex permeability vary only in the radial direction, and static and time dependent examples are discussed. With quadratic or Coulomblike permittivity variations, the wave functions resemble the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator or hydrogen atom wave functions, and similar angular momentum operators are obtained.