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Wave Guides PDF
Wave Guides PDF
WAVEGUIDES
Waveguiding structures are called waveguides and may consist of a single conductor. Transmission lines
tend to guide TEM waves using two or more conductors– waves with no field component in the direction
of the propagation. However, waveguides also support propagation of:
Transverse Electric with a longitudinal magnetic field component but no electric field in
the direction of propagation, . They are also known as H waves.
Transverse Magnetic with a longitudinal electric field component , but no magnetic field
component, . They are also known as E waves
We then expand the curl operator of the source free Maxwell’s equations in rectangular coordinates the
derive the derivatives of the transverse field components with respect to z:
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Similarly:
To summarise, the following equations of transverse field components are valid for all modes defined
previously:
TEM W AVES
TEM waves are characterized by the lack of longitudinal components . We find that
the transverse fields of a TEM mode are non zero only when . Substitution into:
We get:
This indicates that the phase constant of the TEM mode on the guiding structure is equivalent to
the phase constant of a plane wave propagating in a region characterized by the same medium
between the conductors of t he guiding structure. Furthermore, the TEM modes can be
propagated at any non zero frequency since .
We also define the wave impedance of TEM waves from equation (1b) and (2a)
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We also note that if we consider the Helmholtz wave equation where and
:
Then after calculations using the Laplacian operator and noting that then:
Which can be expressed in a simpler form where is the Laplacian operator for two
transverse direction:
The above equations indicate that the transverse electric and magnetic fields satisfy Laplace’s equation
with boundary conditions defined by the conductor geometry of the guiding structure.
It should be noted that single conductor waveguides cannot support TEM waves since there are no closed
loops of magnetic field lines in any transverse plane nor longitudinal conduction current .
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T RANSVERSE E LECTRIC
In transverse electric waves, and can be supported inside closed conductors and two or more
conductors. Substitution into the general solutions for the four transverse field components yields:
In this case and the propagation constant is given by the relationship in order to
yield bounded solutions for the transverse field components of TE modes.
Since then:
This equation represents a reduced Helmholtz equation which can be solved for based on the
boundary conditions of the guiding structure geometry. From the boxed equations we also find that:
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Again the cutoff wavenumber must be nonzero to yield bounded solutions for the transverse field
component of TM modes so that we must operate the guiding structure above the corresponding cutoff
frequency for the particular TM mode to propagate. The longitudinal field component must satisfy the
wave equation so that:
The above reduced Helmholtz equation can be solved for based on the boundary conditions of
the guiding structure geometry. Once is found, the longitudinal magnetic field is known and all of
the transverse field components are found by evaluating the above derivates.
1. Solve the reduced Helmholtz equation for or which will contain unknown constants
including the unknown
2. Find the transverse fields from or
3. Apply boundary conditions to appropriate field components to find the cutoff wavenumber and
unknown constants
4. Find:
R ECTANGULAR W AVEGUIDES
The rectangular waveguide can support either TE or
TM modes. The rectangular cross section (a>b) allows
for single mode operation – one mode propagates in
the waveguide over a given frequency range.
TE M ODE
The longitudinal magnetic field of the TE modes within
the rectangular waveguide satisfy:
The partial derivates become derivates since each term is independent of each other so:
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2. Transverse Field
3. Boundary conditions
The four transverse field components for the propagation mode can then be found from
substituting into the general solutions:
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4. Find other constants and values including the cut off frequency and propagation constant and
wave impedance
Since:
Where is the intrinsic impedance of the filling material. The guide wavelength is:
The notion of dominant mode refers to the propagation mode with the lowest cutoff frequency for any of
the rectangular waveguide modes; in this case it is since we chose a>b. This implies that will
not exist as all the field components are zero. When , is imaginary and hence the wave will decay
exponentially and will not propagate.
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TM MODE
The longitudinal electric field of the TM modes within the rectangular waveguide must satisfy the wave
equation . Expansion and simplification leads to:
This allows us to substitute back into the four transverse equations yielding:
Which is real for the propagating mode but imaginary for the evanescent mode. The cut-off frequency is:
Parameter
Parameter
Example
Determine the wave impedance and guide wavelength at a frequency equal to twice the cutoff frequency,
in a waveguide for TM and TE modes.
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Example
In AM, the sum of signal frequencies and carrier frequency forms an envelope representing the signal
information. The carrier signal exhibits a phase velocity of while the envelope propagates at the
group velocity . Determine the group velocity for a given mode in an air filled rectangular
waveguide.
Note that while the phase velocity within the air filled waveguide can be greater than the speed of light,
the envelope travels at the group velocity less than the speed of light.
Example
a) What are the cut off frequencies for the first 5 modes?
b) If the waveguide is excited at 20 Ghz, what are the propagation constants for the first five modes
c) If the waveguide is excited at 50 Ghz, how many modes will propagate?
Now non-magnetic materials we shall treat , so we can express the cut off frequency as:
For convenience we also assume that , hence this will become an air filled waveguide
Example
Mode m n
TE 1 0 15
TE 0 1 30
TE 2 0 30
TE 1 1 33.54
TM 1 1 33.54
We find that:
Example
Write the general instantaneous field expressions for TM and TE modes and deduce those for and
modes.
For
With
For ,
Example
Determine:
a) Given that we have a time dependent function for obtained from , then
comparison with the solutions for rectangular waveguides yields either a mode
b) Suppose we operate in a mode:
Where
e)
Example
a) note that
All other modes have cutoff frequencies higher than the operational frequency.
b) The dominant range in which one wave mode only can propagate (mode TE10) is given by
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Example
A rectangular air filled waveguide has a cross section 90mm X 25 mm. Find
a)
Or use:
b)
Note that
c)
Or use
d)
Example
Standard air filled waveguides have been designed for radar bands. One type, designated WG-16 is
suitable for X band applications and its dimensions are a=2.29 cm and b=1.02 cm. If it is desired that a
WG-16 waveguide only to operate in mode and that the operating frequency be at least 25% above
the cutoff frequency of mode but no higher than 95% of the next higher cutoff frequency, determine
the allowable operating frequency range.
The two modes having the lowest cutoff frequencies are TE10 and TE20. We thus find: