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Chapter 14- Complex Frequency & The

Laplace Transform

Key Concepts
 Comples Frequency
 Definition of the Laplace Transform
 Properties of the Laplace Transform
 The Inverse Laplace Transform
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Chapter 14- Complex Frequency & The Laplace
Transform
Introduction
 Chapters 7 through 9 detail direct differential equation–
based analysis, which is particularly useful when examining
turn-on or turn-off transients.
 In contrast, Chaps. 10 to 13 describe analysis situations
where sinusoidal excitation is assumed, and transients are of
little or no interest.
 Unfortunately, not all sources are sinusoidal, and there are
times when both transient and steady-state responses are
required. In such instances, the Laplace transform proves to
be a highly valuable tool.
 Simply a mathematical convenience, complex frequency
allows us to manipulate both periodic and nonperiodic time-
varying quantities in parallel, greatly simplifying the analysis.
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Complex Frequency
We introduce the notion of complex frequency by
considering a (purely real) exponentially damped sinusoidal
function, such as the voltage

where σ (sigma) is a real quantity and is usually negative.

Note that we may construct a constant voltage from Eq. [1]
by letting σ = ω = 0:

If we set only σ equal to zero, then we obtain a general

sinusoidal voltage
and if ω = 0, we have the exponential voltage 5

Thus, the damped sinusoid of Eq. [1] includes as special cases

the dc Eq. [2], sinusoidal Eq. [3], and exponential Eq. [4]
functions.
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It is customary to use the letter σ to designate the real part of s, and
ω (not jω) to designate the imaginary part:

14.2 • THE DAMPED SINUSOIDAL FORCING FUNCTION

It is time to put this concept of complex frequency to work.
The general exponentially varying sinusoid, which we may
represent with the voltage function

can be expressed in terms of the complex frequency s by

making use of Euler’s identity as before:
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Collecting factors, we now substitute s = σ + jω into

We are now ready to apply the exponentially damped

sinusoid, as given by Eq. [8], [9], [10], or [11], to an electrical
network, where the forced response—a current in some
branch of the network—is desired. Since the forced response
has the form of the forcing function, its integral, and its
derivatives, the response may be assumed to be
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14.3 DEFINITION OF THE LAPLACE TRANSFORM
Given a function f (t), its Laplace transform, denoted by
F(s) or L[ f (t)],
is defined by

It should be noted that the integral in above Eq. is a definite

integral with respect to time. Hence, the result of integration
is independent of time and only involves the variable “s.”
We say the transformation is from t-domain to s-domain.
Given the interpretation of s as frequency, we arrive at the
following description of the Laplace transform:
The Laplace transform is an integral transformation of a
function f (t ) from the time domain into the complex
frequency domain, giving F (s).
 The Laplace transform in above Eq. (15.1) is known as the 14

one-sided (or unilateral) Laplace transform. The two-sided

(or bilateral) Laplace transform is given by

The one-sided Laplace transform in above Eq, is the only type

of Laplace transform that we will treat in this book.
Example: Compute the Laplace transform of the function f(t) 15

= 2u(t − 3).
Example 15.1 : Determine the Laplace transform of 16

each of the following;

Solution: (a) For the unit step function u(t), shown in Fig.
15.2(a), the Laplace transform is

(b) For the exponential function, shown in Fig. 15.2(b), the

Laplace transform is
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Example 15.2 : 18
Practice Problems: 19
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Thanks