DEMONSTRATION 1

TEM waves in lossless and lossy media

Mateusz Krysicki
 TUTOR
Mateusz Krysicki
Mateusz.Krysicki@pw.edu.pl
Room: 543
 MAXWELL EQUATIONS

Faraday law
𝜕𝐵
∇×𝐸 =−
𝜕𝑡
Ampere law
𝜕𝐷
∇×𝐻 = + 𝐽Ԧ
𝜕𝑡
Gauss law (electric) ∇𝐷 = 𝜌𝑣

Gauss law (magnetic) ∇B = 0

 PLANE WAVE
A plane wave is the
simplest form of the
Maxwell’s equations
solution. Its name refers
to the shape of a wave
front (constant phase
surfaces, perpendicular
to the direction of
propagation) of a
propagating wave
 PLANE WAVE
THE BASIC PARAMETERS
• Wavelength: 𝜆
• Frequency: 𝑓
• Amplitude: 𝐴

Wavelength is related to frequency and propagation

speed (thus also the parameters of the medium in which
wave propagates) according to the following formula:
𝑣 1 1 𝜇: medium permeability
𝜆= =
𝑓 𝜇𝜀 𝑓 𝜀: medium permittivity
 PLANE WAVE
MAIN PROPERTIES
Propagation speed depends on medium parameters
1 𝑐0
𝑣= =
𝜇𝜀 𝜇𝑟 𝜀𝑟
Electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular to the direction of propagation
𝐸 ⊥ 𝑘 and H ⊥ 𝑘
Electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular to each other
𝐸 ⊥ H
Wave impedance is equal to intrinsic impedance of the medium
𝐸⊥ 𝜇
𝑍𝑊 = = = 𝑍𝑖
𝐻⊥ 𝜀
 VERIFICATION
• Study of the basic properties of a plane wave.
• Observations of a wavelength change as a frequency function.
• Observations of a wavelength change as a function of material parameters:
permittivity and permeability.
• Observations of field envelope changes as a function of medium lossess.
 VERIFICATION
We will consider TEM wave
propagation in a homogeneously
filled parallel-plate waveguide as
a proper equivalent of TEM wave
propagation in an unbounded
region.

Parallel-plate line model consists of:

• Rectangular dielectric slab
• Perfect electric conductor (PEC) at the top and
the bottom of the slab
• Perfect magnetic conductor (PMC) at the
lateral walls of the slab
 VERIFICATION
Due to the boundary conditions, TEM is the fundamental mode
of propagation with Ez electric polarization and corresponding
Hy magnetic component.

Line is filled with a dielectric medium characterized by

𝜀, 𝜇, tan 𝛿 .

Input port excites a sinusoidal TEM wave of frequency

f [GHz], whereas the output port operates as a
matched load.

It may be noticed that the circuit is

discretized in space and in consequence in a
time domain what contributes to the inherent
inaccuracy of the FDTD method. However, in
most of applications 10 FDTD cells per
wavelength meet the accuracy requirements
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 PLANE WAVE IN LOSSY MEDIA
In general, intrinsic impedance of the medium is given by:
𝑗𝜔𝜇
𝑍𝑖 =
𝑗𝜔𝜀 + 𝜎
 PLANE WAVE
MAIN PROPERTIES IN LOSSY MEDIA (1)
Propagation constant
𝛾 = 𝛼 + 𝑗𝛽 = 𝑗𝜔𝜇 𝑗𝜔𝜀 + 𝜎
𝛼 : attenuation constant
𝛽: phase constant
𝜎: conductivity [S/m]
Wave impedance is equal to intrinsic impedance of the medium

𝐸⊥ 𝑗𝜔𝜇
𝑍𝑊 = = = 𝑍𝑖
𝐻⊥ 𝑗𝜔𝜀 + 𝜎
 PLANE WAVE
MAIN PROPERTIES IN LOSSY MEDIA (2)
Propagation speed depends on medium parameters
𝜔
𝑣=
𝛽
Electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular to the direction of propagation
𝐸 ⊥ 𝑘 and H ⊥ 𝑘
Electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular to each other
𝐸 ⊥ H
Wave impedance is equal to intrinsic impedance of the medium
𝐸⊥ 𝑗𝜔𝜇
𝑍𝑊 = = = 𝑍𝑖
𝐻⊥ 𝑗𝜔𝜀 + 𝜎
 PLANE WAVE
LOW LOSS DIELECTRICS
Propagation constant 𝝈
𝜸 = 𝜶 + 𝒋𝜷 = 𝒋𝝎𝝁 𝝈 + 𝒋𝝎𝜺 = 𝒋𝝎 𝝁𝜺 𝟏 − 𝒋
𝝎𝜺
𝝈
loss factor: 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝜹 =
𝝎𝜺
Low-loss case:
𝒕𝒂𝒏𝜹 ≪ 𝟏
𝝈 𝝁 𝝁 𝒋𝜹
𝜶≈ 𝜷 ≈ 𝝎 𝝁𝜺 𝒁𝒊 ≈ 𝒆 𝟐
𝟐 𝜺 𝜺
Conclusion:
A low-loss dielectric behaves like a perfect one, except a non-zero attenuation constant.
 PLANE WAVE
GOOD CONDUCTORS
Propagation constant 𝝈
𝜸 = 𝜶 + 𝒋𝜷 = 𝒋𝝎𝝁 𝝈 + 𝒋𝝎𝜺 = 𝒋𝝎 𝝁𝜺 𝟏 − 𝒋
𝝎𝜺
𝝈
loss factor: 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝜹 =
𝝎𝜺
Good conductor:
𝒕𝒂𝒏𝜹 ≫ 𝟏

𝝎𝝁𝝈 𝝎𝝁 𝒋 𝝅
𝜶≈𝜷≈
𝟐 𝒁𝒊 ≈ 𝒆 𝟒
𝝈
Electromagnetic wave is quickly attenuated in metals
 VERIFICATION
• Study of the basic properties of a plane wave in lossy media:
• 𝑓 = 5𝐺𝐻𝑧
• 𝜀𝑟 = 1
• tan 𝛿 = 0.1 and tan 𝛿 = 1