Topic 6

Ferrimagnetic Components

Feb 26 2024
By Dr. Ahuna
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Introduction
2  Some of the most practical anisotropic materials for microwave applications
are ferromagnetic compounds, also known as ferrites, such as yttrium iron
garnet (YIG) and materials composed of iron oxides and various other
elements such as aluminum, cobalt, manganese, and nickel.
 In contrast to ferromagnetic materials (e.g., iron, steel), ferromagnetic
compounds have high resistivity and a significant amount of anisotropy at
microwave frequencies.
 The magnetic anisotropy of a ferromagnetic material is actually induced by
applying a DC magnetic bias field. This field aligns the magnetic dipoles in
the ferrite material to produce a net (nonzero) magnetic dipole moment, and
causes the magnetic dipoles to process at a frequency controlled by the
strength of the bias field.
 A microwave signal circularly polarized in the same direction as this
precession will interact strongly with the dipole moments, while an
oppositely polarized field will interact less strongly.
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Introduction – Cont’d
3
 Since, for a given direction of rotation, the sense of polarization changes
with the direction of propagation, a microwave signal will propagate
through a magnetically biased ferrite differently in different directions.
This effect can be utilized to fabricate directional devices such as
isolators, circulators, and gyrators.
 Another useful characteristic of ferromagnetic materials is that the
interaction with an applied microwave signal can be controlled by
adjusting the strength of the bias field. This effect leads to a variety of
control devices such as phase shifters, switches, and tunable resonators
and filters.

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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Basic Properties of Ferrimagnetic Materials
4
The Permeability Tensor
 The magnetic properties of a material are due to the existence of magnetic
dipole moments, which arise primarily from electron spin. From quantum
mechanical considerations, the magnetic dipole moment of an electron due
to its spin is given by

 where h− is Planck’s constant divided by 2π, q is the electron charge, and

me is the mass of the electron.

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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Comparison of Ferromagnetic and Paraelectric Materials
5
 Certain ceramic compounds, such as lithium niobate and barium titanate,
have the property that their dielectric permittivity can be controlled with
the application of a DC bias electric field.
 Paraelectric materials can therefore be used for variable phase shifters and
other control components.
 Unlike ferromagnetic materials, paraelectric materials are isotropic, and
therefore paraelectric devices are reciprocal.
 Paraelectric materials typically have very high dielectric constants and loss
tangents when used in bulk form, so modern applications generally use
thin films of paraelectric material layered on a substrate.
 An important advantage of paraelectric devices over ferrite devices is the
elimination of a large and heavy magnet or biasing coil.
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Ferrite Isolators
6
 One of the most useful microwave ferrite components is the isolator,
which is a two-port device having unidirectional transmission
characteristics.
 The scattering matrix for an ideal isolator has the form

 indicating that both ports are matched, but transmission occurs only in the
direction from port 1 to port 2.
 Since the scattering matrix is not unitary, the isolator must be lossy. And,
of course, [S] is not symmetric, since an isolator is a nonreciprocal
component.
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Ferrite Isolators – cont’d
7

FIGURE 9.11 Two resonance isolator geometries. (a) E-plane, full-height slab. (b) H-plane,
partial-height slab.
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Uses of Ferrite Isolators
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 A common application uses an isolator between a high-power source and a
load to prevent possible reflections from damaging the source.
 An isolator can be used in place of a matching or tuning network, but it
should be realized that any power reflected from the load will be absorbed
by the isolator, as opposed to being reflected back to the load, which is the
case when a matching network is used.
 These devices are of practical importance, and can be analyzed and
designed using the results for the ferrite slab-loaded waveguide.

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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Ferrite Circulators
9
 A circulator is a three-port microwave device that can be lossless and matched at all
ports; by using the unitary properties of the scattering matrix we were able to show
that such a device must be nonreciprocal. The scattering matrix for an ideal
circulator thus has the following form:

 which shows that power can flow from port 1 to port 2, port 2 to port 3, and port 3
to port 1, but not in the reverse directions.
 By transposing the port indices, the opposite circularity can be obtained. For a
ferrite circulator, this result can be produced by changing the polarity of the
magnetic bias field.
 Most circulators use permanent magnets for the bias field, but if an electromagnet is
used the circulator can operate in a latching (remanent) mode as a single-pole
double-throw (SPDT) switch.
 A circulator can also be used as an isolator by terminating one of the ports with a
matched load.
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Properties of a mismatched circulator
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 If we assume that a circulator has circular symmetry around its three ports
and is lossless, but not perfectly matched, we can write its scattering matrix
as

 Since the circulator is assumed lossless, the scattering matrix must be unitary,
which implies the following two conditions:

 If the circulator was matched ( = 0), the (9.93) shows that either  = 0 and
|| = 1, or  = 0 and || = 1.; this describes the ideal circulator with its two
possible circularity states. Observe that this condition depends only on a
lossless and matched device.
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Properties of a mismatched circulator – cont’d
11
Now, assume that small reflections, such that ||<<1. To be specific,
consider the circularity state where power flows primarily in the 1-2-3
direction, so that || is close to unity and || is small. Then 0, and
(9.93b) shows that *+  0, so || ||. Then (9.93a) shows that 𝛼 2 ≅
1 − 2 𝛽 2 ≅ 1 − Γ 2 or 𝛼 ≅ 1 − Γ 2. Ignoring phase factors, then the
scattering matrix of (9.92) can be written as

Γ Γ 1 − Γ2
𝑆 = 1 − Γ2 Γ Γ
Γ 1 − Γ2 Γ

This result shows that circulator isolation,   , and transmission 𝛼 ≅ 1 −

Γ 2 , both deteriorate as the input ports become mismatched.
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Ferrite Phase Shifters
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 Another important application of ferrite materials is in phase
shifters, which are two-port components that provide variable
phase shift by changing the bias field of the ferrite.
 Phase shifters find application in test and measurements systems,
but the most significant use is in phased array antennas where the
antenna beam can be steered in space by electronically controlled
phase shifters.
 Because of this demand, many different types of phase shifters
have been developed, both reciprocal (same phase shift in either
direction) and nonreciprocal.
 One of the most useful designs is the latching (or remanent)
nonreciprocal phase shifter using a ferrite toroid in a rectangular
waveguide
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 Ferrimagnetic Components
Ferrite Phase Shifters – cont’d
13

FIGURE 9.15 Geometry of a nonreciprocal latching phase shifter using a ferrite toroid.

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