Paper No.
2226 R
621.318.12.029.6
THE 45° FARADAY-ROTATION FERRITE ISOLATOR
By A. LANGLEY MORRIS, Member.
{The paper was first received 19th July, and in revised form 1th September, 1956. It was published in October, 1956, and was read at
the CONVENTION ON FERRITES 2nd November, 1956.)
SUMMARY
The wave propagation in a dielectric rod is used to explain the
behaviour of ferrite rods in 45° Faraday-rotation isolators. The
influence of the diameter of the rod and of variations in wavelength
upon the Faraday rotation are considered.
LIST OF PRINCIPAL SYMBOLS
y = Propagation coefficient — a + yj8.
jS = Phase-change coefficient,
a = Attenuation coefficient.
p,K= Tensor permeability components,
/x — K = fx+ = Permeability of positive circularly polarized
wave,
/x + K = [x_ = Permeability of negative circularly polarized
wave.
e = Permittivity.
co — Microwave angular frequency.
wM — Angular frequency due to ferrite magnetic
moment.
a>o = Gyromagnetic-resonance angular frequency.
/ / = Steady magnetic field, oersteds.
r = 17-6 x 106 cycles/oersted (g = 2).
. A = Free-space wavelength.
Ac — Cut-off wavelength.
= Guide wavelength.
= Faraday rotation, rad.
/ — Length of ferrite rod, cm.
d — Diameter of ferrite rod, cm.
D — Diameter of guide, cm.
g = Gyromagnetic ratio.
(1) INTRODUCTION
One form of microwave ferrite isolator consists of a cylindrical
ferrite rod inside a circular waveguide. A longitudinal steady
magnetic field is adjusted to rotate the plane of polarization of
the transmitted wave by 45°. The desirable mode in the circular
guide is the H n , and transitions from rectangular to circular
waveguide section are used to convert the H0J mode of the
rectangular guide into the Hj i mode in the circular. For X-band
frequencies (A = 3 0-3-5cm) the best guide diameter is 0-9in,
but 4-f in is often used when A is 3 -2cm.
The mode propagation in a circular waveguide partially filled
by a ferrite rod and having a longitudinal variable magnetic
field is exceedingly complex. The ferrite has a high permittivity
(quoted figures range from 9 to 17), and it has a .permeability
which can be made positive, negative, or even zero when excited
by a circularly polarized wave. This permeability is not the
same for the positive and negative circularly polarized com-
ponents, and the Faraday rotation is due to the difference in
permeability.
As a consequence of the complexity of the mode propagation,
the design of an isolator is based mainly upon experimental
results rather than upon theoretical analysis.
Mr. Morris is at the Radar Research Establishment.
[ 383 ]
Oct. 1956
(2) WAVE PROPAGATION IN AN UNBOUNDED FERRITE
MEDIUM
The behaviour of a plane wave transmitted by an unbounded
ferrite medium having a longitudinal magnetic field has been
extensively considered in the literature.
The propagation coefficients for the positive and negative
circularly polarized components are given by
.co (i)
y± = -J—A
The rotation of the plane of polarization of a plane wave,
called the Faraday rotation, is given by the mean of the difference
between the imaginary parts of eqn. (1) for each circularly
polarized component. If all losses are neglected, the rotation
(in radians per centimetre) is given by
(2)
where H+ = 1 - toMl(to — co0) (3)
fx_ = 1 + OJMI(U) + co0) (4)
toM = 4TTMST— Angular frequency of magnetic saturation
of ferrite.
co0 = TH for TEM waves = Resonance angular frequency.
ATTMS = Saturation magnetism of the ferrite, gauss.
To give some idea of the magnitude of the quantities at
A = 3-2cm, where co = 5-9 x 1010, consider a ferrite with
10
4TTMS = 1600, giving toM = 2-82 x 10 . Provided that the
field H is less than 3 350 oersteds, the resonance frequency, co0,
will be less than the angular frequency of the microwave, and
[JL+ will not have a positive value greater than unity.
For # = 1 0 0 0 oersteds, /u.+ =0-32 and /*_ = 1 • 37. A
ferrite of grade Rl has a permittivity of 10 and thus the rotation
is 108 deg/cm.
The attenuation coefficients for each circularly polarized
component are given by
a
± = (5)
where
assuming the dielectric loss is negligible.
When <x+ =£ a_, i.e. when the attenuations of the two wave
components differ, the outgoing wave is elliptically polarized.
Such a condition can be undesirable in a ferrite isolator, for
the device cannot have an isolation greater than the ellipticity
as defined by the axial ratio
A =201og10|i±-£= . . . . (6)
where V+ and V_ = R.M.S. voltages of the axial components
of the elliptically polarized wave.
For V+ = V_ the wave is plane polarized and A = oo;
the ratio V_IV+ is less than 0-94 the isolation cannot exceed
30 dB.
384 MORRIS: THE 45° FARADAY-ROTATION FERRTTE ISOLATOR
With a ferrite rod in a circular waveguide, ellipticity can arise With the aid of the propagation equations given by Kiely,3
from a number of causes, but eqn. (5) indicates the undesirability the relative phase velocity expressed as a ratio of the guide
of having a negative quantity for the real part of the permeability wavelength, A^, to«the free-space wavelength, A, can be found in
component fx+, which means that <X>MI{OJ — co0) must be positiveterms of the relative guide diameter djX, with the permittivity
and less than unity. constant of the guide as a parameter. Fig. 1 shows these
The plane-wave theory for the unbounded ferrite shows that expressions plotted for the H ol , E01 and H E n modes.
there are two important parameters in addition to the per- In order to show the difference in behaviour between the
mittivity, namely wMl(u) + w0) and coMl(co — co0), the latter HE n mode of a rod having no conducting boundary and the
being the more important because of its effect upon the Hu mode of a rod having a conducting boundary on its surface,
ellipticity. three broken curves for the H n mode, with e = 10, 5 and 2-5
respectively, are shown in Fig. l(c).
(3) WAVE PROPAGATION IN A CIRCULAR GUIDE The condition for mode cut-off is XgjX -> oo. This can occur
for the H01 and E01 modes of the unshielded dielectric rod and
The wave propagation in a conducting waveguide depends for the H mode of the shielded rod, but not for the H E mode
n n
upon the guide diameter and upon the permeability and per- of the unshielded one, where A /A -> 1 when either d(X or e is
?
mittivity of the filling medium. The guide is characterized by a small. For all modes the ratio A^/A tends towards 1/-\A as the
cut-off wavelength for the various modes as given by ratio d/X is increased. There is also a greater change in relative
Ac = (7) phase velocity with d/X, as the permittivity increases. If the
free-space wavelength A is 3 • 2 cm, then for d(X = 0 • 2, d = 0 • 25 in.
where k is a mode constant and is 1-706 for the H n mode. From Fig. l(c) with e = 10-13, such a ratio of dfX is in a critical
With a permittivity of 10 and a guide diameter of £in, the only region where small changes in diameter or wavelength cause
possible mode that can be supported is the H n for a wavelength large changes in the relative phase velocity. It is rather significant
between 3 and 3-4cm. that ferrite rods of about this diameter are used in ferrite isolators
The problem of a ferrite rod filling a circular guide has been for X-band wavelengths. It may also be noticed from Figs. l(a)
examined by Suhl and Walker,1 and the wave propagation for and \{b) that, for djX > 0-2 and with a rod having a per-
the general case is complicated by the number of modes that are mittivity of 10, the ratio Ag/A for the H 0l and E01 modes is greater
possible. The case of a guide partially filled by a ferrite rod than unity.
leads to unmanageable equations, but numerical solutions may
ultimately be possible by the aid of electronic computers. Suhl (5) WAVE PROPAGATION IN A FERRITE ROD
and Walker2 have treated the case of the field in the guide being As a first approximation it appears reasonable to treat a
only slightly perturbed by a ferrite rod. The Faraday rotation ferrite rod as a dielectric waveguide, especially since the per-
per centimetre is found to be small. The chief disadvantage to mittivities of such rods are fairly large—about 10 for microwave
the application of this perturbation solution is due to the high ferrites. The curves in Fig. 1 could then be applied, except that
permittivity of ferrite rods, which means that the equation can the permeability may not be unity and will be different for the
apply only to diameters very much smaller than are used in two circularly polarized components of a plane wave.
practice. To take account of the permeability, an effective permittivity
equal to efj, can be assumed, for it is likely—and is borne out
(4) WAVE PROPAGATION IN A DIELECTRIC ROD by eqn. (2) for the unbounded ferrite case—that the product
Since there is no satisfactory manageable solution to the term is more important than the individual values of e and /x.
problem of wave propagation in a guide partially filled by a rod The case of a plane wave can then be examined by treating
of ferrite, the simpler problem of a pure dielectric rod is worthy separately the two circularly polarized components, the negative
of consideration. Because of the relatively high permittivity component seeing an effective value e/x_ and the positive wave
of ferrite rods, the still simpler problem of a dielectric wave- component a value e/x+.
guide unshielded by a conducting surface will be examined. From the behaviour of the HEn mode shown in Fig. l(c),
Some mention of dielectric waveguides is made by South- it may be seen for e = 10-13 that when d/X is about 0-2 the
worth,2 but more detailed information is given by Kiely.4 ratio XglX is changing rapidly; for e < 5, A^/A = 1. The smaller
Wave propagation can occur in three main modes, designated the value of Ag/A, the larger is the phase-shift suffered by the
Hoi, Eoi and HEjj. The guide can exhibit cut-off phenomena wave, and the Faraday rotation comes from the difference in
for the first two modes and for higher-order modes, but no cut- the phase-shift for the two circularly polarized components.
off occurs for the HEj j mode. The energy of the wave is trans- The behaviour of the ferrite isolator can be examined.
mitted partially inside and partially outside the guide, in marked The permeability of the negative polarized wave is greater
contrast to a normal conducting guide where all the energy is than unity (see example in Section 2), but that for the
inside. positive wave is less. Thus it can be arranged for the latter
The three mode patterns, when viewed in a direction transverse to have most of its energy outside the rod and to have little
to the guide length, are somewhat similar to the H01, E01 and H n phase-shift, while the negative wave has a large phase-shift.
modes in circular guides. The first two are symmetrical, but the As a result, the plane of polarization of the plane-polarized
HE (1 mode is unsymmetrical with respect to the axis of the wave is rotated by the required angle of 45°, mostly from the
guide. negative component. The important parameters in the operation
In a normal conducting guide the £"-lines of the H n mode of the device are d/X, OJM/(OJ + co0) and OJMI(O) — w0), the
terminate on the guide surface, giving rise to conduction currents two frequency parameters determining the permeabilities and
in the guide wall. The iT-lines of the HE j { mode extend outside hence the effective permittivity, provided that e is known.
the dielectric guide and bend in an axial direction, like the H- If it be assumed that e/x_ > 13, then from Fig. l(c), Xg/X will
lines, re-entering the rod and giving rise to displacement currents be unity for d/X = 0-12. This means that the diameter is 0 • 15 in
in the dielectric. Since both E and H terms enter into the for a wavelength of 3-2cm. Since eju.+ < 13, little rotation
equations of the unsymmetrical mode it is termed an HE will occur, since most of the energies for both circularly polarized
mode. components are propagated outside the rod. Thus djX = 0-12
 MORRIS: THE 45° FARADAY-ROTATION FERRTTE ISOLATOR 385

1-2

1-0

0-75

OtO

0-25 32

_J I 1 I-
0-2 0 4 0-6 10
d/A
(o)

1-2 1-2 , 1
e-io' 5> 2-5
1 I
1 -1
\
1 'Ci
1 \J \
\\ \
\\
0-75 0-75
\{\ AV e-2-5

0'50 0-50
\v 5

10
—^. • .

O25 0-25
32
—
n
0-2 0-4 0-6 0-8
d,'A

Fig. 1.—Modes in dielectric rod.

(a) Hoi.
( « Eoi.
(c) HEn (broken curves are for shielded rod).

can be taken as the lower limit for effective operation of an Table 1

isolator. PERMEABILITY COMPONENTS
Fig. 2 shows some experimental results with various ferrite
rods in a 0-9in-diameter circular waveguide. It is therefore
interesting to tabulate some calculations making use of eqns. (3) Wavelength wxlO-io "(VH--VM.+)
and (4), but taking w0 = {H + 27TMS), as is usual for cylindrical
rods. cm
Let 4TTMS = 1 600 and H= 100; then wM = 2-82 x 1010 2-95 6-38 1-354 0-413 1-10
10
and o>0 = 1-58 X 10 . The permeability components at 315 5-98 1-372 0-360 114
various wavelengths are set out in Table 1. 3-20 5-88 1-377 0-345 1-15
3-25 5-80 1-381 0-332 116
On the basis of a plane wave in an unbounded ferrite medium 3-30 5-71 1-386 0-322 117
the last column in the Table shows that the effect of change in
wavelength upon the Faraday rotation is small, which is, of
course, contrary to the results given in Fig. 2. A point to notice effect of df\ must also be invoked to explain fully the effect of
is the small variation in /x_ compared with /JL+. It is therefore variations in wavelength. Table 2 gives the components of
not enough to consider only variations in coM/(co ± a>0); the djX for the results given in Fig. 2.
386 MORRIS: THE 45° FARADAY-ROTATION FERRITE ISOLATOR

200 (6) WAVE PROPAGATION IN A PARTIALLY FILLED GUIDE

X - 3-20CMX When a dielectric rod is surrounded by a circular conducting
3-25CMNX A
100 guide, the wave propagation will depend upon an additional
parameter d/D, which is the ratio of the rod diameter to the
45 guide diameter. The H E n mode will become the H n mode
O 30 when djD = 1-0, and three examples giving the relative phase
/ , velocity are shown by the broken curves in Fig. l(c) for this
^ 20
io 7 particular case.

i y

X-2-95CN|L
When the ratio d/D is very small, Suhl and Walker1 have
shown that the Faraday rotation of a ferrite rod is proportional
to (d/D)2. Most practical ferrite isolators have d/D < 0-25.
To some degree the propagation conditions for an H E n mode

/J
g 400
in a partially rilled guide could be expected to lie somewhere
§ 200 between those of an unshielded and a shielded rod. This
100
45
_/_ r// 3-150^
"~3-3CM
becomes more correct as the permittivity of the rod and the
ratio djX increase.
For the negative circularly polarized wave €JJL_ will be large,
30
20 /
A/
A /
//
/
and for values of d/X ,where \ / A < 1 for an H E n wave, the
influence of an outer conducting guide will not be great and the
10. curves in Fig. l(c) will most likely apply.
10 100 100O
APPLIED FIELD, OERSTEDS The positive circularly polarized wave will make €fx+ small
(less than 5) and for most regions of d/X of interest, Fig. l(c)
Fig. 2.—Effect of wavelength on Faraday rotation in 0-9in diameter shows that XJX = 1 for an H E n mode. The simple unshielded-
waveguide. rod model cannot therefore be expected to explain satisfactorily
(a) 2 in rods. the behaviour of the positive polarized component in a ferrite
— 0-25 in diameter, tapered over l|in. isolator, and the influence of the outer guide cannot be neglected.
0-20 in diameter, untapered.
(b) 0-223 in diameter tapered rods.
In order, therefore, to explain more completely the behaviour
3 in rods. of the circularly polarized wave components when Fig. l(c)
2 in rods. shows their ratios Xg/X to be unity, the more complicated di-
electric-rod model having an outer conducting guide must be
Table 2 used. Furthermore, the simple unshielded model does not
provide a satisfactory reason for an upper limit to djX for
THE PARAMETER d/X practical cases of isolator design. On the basis of the onset of
H 01 and E o l modes, Figs. \(a) and \{b) could be used to suggest
an upper limit to d/X, but there is some doubt concerning their
A propagation in ferrite isolators.4
d = 0-25 in d = 0-223 in d= 0-2in Some light might be shed on these problems by solving the
wave propagation of H E n and E H U modes in a guide partially
cm rilled with a pure dielectric. The equations are very complicated,
2-95 0192 but numerical solutions are possible. The author is therefore
3-15 0-202 0180
3-20 0-198 0-177 0159 very indebted to Mr. R. R. Williams for showing him some of
3-25 0-196 his unpublished work on this particular problem. Mr. Williams
3-30 0-172 has investigated the case of d\D = 0-25 for rods having /x = 1
and e = 10-3. There appears to be a discontinuity in the
relationship between Xg/X and d/X when Xg/X approaches unity.
If these values of d/X are examined in relation to the curves of This occurs when d/X ~ 0-2 for the case under consideration,
the H E U mode shown in Fig. l(c), the variation of Faraday and Xg/X goes to infinity for d/X = 013i which is practically the
rotation with frequency is explainable. same as for the H n mode of a concentric guide with Ac = 1 -92Z>
Assuming e = 10, then from Table 1 the variations of €/*,+ for d/D = 0-25. Furthermore, there exists an E H n mode
are €fi_ = 13-5-14 and €fi+ = 4-1-3-2. For the positive which is cut off for values of d/X less than 0-22. It is suggested
wave, Fig. l(c) shows that XgIX ==1-0; most of the wave energy that it is the appearance of this mode which sets an upper
is therefore outside the rod for all the wavelengths under con- limit to d/X in a ferrite isolator, rather than the appearance of
sideration. On the other hand, for the negative wave, certain H 01 or E 01 modes.
values of d/X are in the region where Xg/X is changing rapidly,
i.e. those for d/X = 0-19-0-20; hence large angles of rotation
would be expected, as is confirmed by the experimental findings (7) THE PERMITTIVITY OF FERRTTES
in Fig. 2. Thus, Fig. l(c) explains to some degree why there is a The preceding analyses have shown the importance of the
greater change in rotation for the 0-223 in diameter rod for a permittivity of the rod. In order to investigate its probable
wavelength change from 2-95 to 3-15 cm than for a change value, a 0-25in-diameter ferrite rod of Rl grade was arranged
from 3 • 15 to 3 • 3 cm. It also explains the small rotation for the to project out of a closely fitting brass slug fitted into the end of
0 • 2 in diameter rod. a 0-9in-diameter waveguide. The microwave frequency was
The very simple dielectric-rod model has therefore brought varied around the cut-off region for the H n mode as given by
out the importance of the parameters d/X and coM/(o> ± co0), eqn. (7). The cut-off wavelength was found to be quite sharp
the former being of importance for variations in wavelength and occurred at 3 • 53 cm. Using the formulae for the Hj l mode,
over a limited band, while the latter affects the important the value of €/x was calculated as 10-6.
quantities The projecting surface of the rod was then examined by means
 MORRIS: THE 45° FARADAY-ROTATION FERRTTE ISOLATOR
of a travelling earthed probe, and it was found that nodes existed
along the rod. Assuming the distance between the nodes was
the wavelength in the rod, and again taking the constant for an
H n mode, it is found that
(8)
~=wm • • •
A figure of about 10 was found for efx. At this stage it was
thought desirable to have a comparable material, but non-
ferromagnetic, for checking the measurements. Zinc ferrite is
reputed to be non-ferromagnetic, so accordingly a high-density
zinc-ferrite rod of 0 • 22 in diameter was obtained. However, it
was found to be very slightly ferromagnetic (doubtless because
of contamination by ferrous ferrite, which is very difficult to
eliminate). On the basis of the node measurements a figure
of 10 • 3 was obtained for efx. The rod was then ground to 0 • 2 in
diameter and fitted into the cavity of an S-band permittivity-
measuring equipment which had been designed specially for
measuring permittivity in polystyrene rods. This equipment
gave efx = 10-5 for the zinc-ferrite rod, and has also given
€/JL — 10 for rods of Rl grade ferrite.
From these measurements it was concluded that the per-
mittivity constant of the Rl ferrite rods was about 10. The
measurement of cut-off frequency appears to be a useful tech-
nique, but the wavelength measurements along exposed rods
warrant further investigation in view of the behaviour of the
HE,, mode.
(8) CONCLUSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
The treatment of a Faraday isolator from the aspect of a
dielectric-rod waveguide propagating an HE,, mode has given
some insight into the behaviour of the device. It seems to explain
the behaviour of the negative circularly polarized wave com-
ponent and to some extent explains the small rotation obtained
when the rod diameter is much less than given by djX = 0-2.
It does not give a good explanation for the upper limit, which
387
from experience must not be much greater than d/X = 0-2. It
is possible to invoke the appearance of H o , and EQ, modes as
constituting a limit, but there is evidence—yet to be proved
more conclusively—that it is the onset of an EH,, mode that
sets the actual limit.
The simple dielectric model also explains the increased power
rating of an isolator obtained by a reduction in rod diameter.
For, with a reduction in djXy more of the power flows outside the
rod, so the rod does not become so hot. Southworth2 has
produced two curves of the ratio of energy inside and outside a
dielectric guide as a function of djX. For a permittivity of 10
the energy ratio is reduced from 0 • 33 to 0 • 1 when dfX is reduced
from 0-2 to 0-18.
For the design of isolators, the ratio djX is an important
parameter, as is o>M/(o> ± o>0). The other parameter, d/D,
does not appear to be so important, provided that the ratio is
small enough. There is a hope that further investigations of the
more complicated model of mode propagation in a circular
waveguide partially filled by a dielectric rod will shed some
additional light on the very difficult problem of ferrite rods in
waveguides.
(9) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to acknowledge the help of Mr. R. R.
Williams and Dr. Senior and thanks them for their stimulating
discussion.
(10) REFERENCES
(1) SUHL, H., and WALKER, L. R.: 'Guided-Wave Propagation
through Gyromagnetic Media', Bell System Technical
Journal, 1954, 33, pp. 579, 939 and 1133.
(2) SOUTHWORTH, G. C.: 'Principles and Applications of Wave-
guide Transmission' (Van Nostrand, New York, 1950),
pp. 129-131.
(3) KDELY, D. G.: 'Dielectric Aerials' (Methuen, London), 1953.
(4) MELCHOR, J. L., AYRES, W. P., and VARTANIAN, P. H.:
'Energy Concentration Effects in Ferrite Loaded Wave
Guides', Journal of Applied Physics, 1956, 27, p. 75.