Wave Guides - 1 | Electromagnetics - Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) PDF Download

Wave Guides

Electromagnetic waves carry both energy and momentum. It should therefore be possible to transmit energy contained in the wave from one place to another. For low frequencies (typically, less than 1 MHz), this is done by parallel transmission lines or coaxial cables. However, for higher frequencies, such as microwave frequencies, we need special conduits such a hollow metal tubes or optical fibers.

We will first explain the basic concepts of guiding waves by taking  the simple case of a pair of  parallel, infinite metal plates with a separation d between them. The wave is made to propagate in the hollow region between the plates, which we take to be empty space. We have seen that the electric field is primarily confined to the surface, penetrating a small “skin depth” which  becomes smaller with increasing frequency.  As a result we take the electric field to vanish at the surface of the guide. 

Let us rewrite the Maxwell’s equations for the case where there are free charges or currents.

where we have time variation to be 

Taking the curl of the these equations and substituting from the other equations, we get

For propagation between the plannes, σ = 0, so that we have,

We will return to thiese equations a little while later.

Consider the original curl equations and write them in component form (with σ = 0)

gives,

Parallely, the derivatives of electric field components satisf,

The solutions of these set of equations can be classified into three distinct groups. The direction of propagation being along the z direction, we term this direction as  the longitudinal direction and a direction perpendicular to it (i.e. x and y directions) as the transverse direction.  The distinct solutions are grouped as

1. Solutions for which E_z = 0 , i.e. the non-zero electric field is transverse to the direction of propagation. This is called the "Transverse Electric " or TE mode. In this case the longitudinal component of magnetic field is non-vanishing (H_z≠0). The solution, therefore, is also referred to as H-mode.
2. Solutions for which H_z = 0 , i.e. the non-zero magnetic field is transverse to the direction of propagation. This is called the "Transverse Magnetic " or TM mode. In this case the longitudinal component of electric field is non-vanishing (E_z≠ 0). The solution, therefore, is also referred to as E-mode.
3. In some situations, it is possible to have the longitudinal component of both electric and magnetic field to be simultaneously zero, like the case of propagation of electromagnetic wave in free space. This special solution is called "Transverse Electric and Magnetic Mode" or TEM mode.

It is of course possible for a solution not to belong to any of these distinct categories in which case it would be a "mixed mode" solution.

Since the wave propagates along the z direction, the z dependence of the field is specified,

where, the complex factor  Thus  is equivalent to multiplication by -   Further, since the plates are of infinite extent in y direction, there is no field variation in this direction so that we can replace the derivative  by zero. Using these, we can rewrite the equations above as

and

The wave equation (1) takes the form,

We will discuss in detail the TE solution and leave the TM solution as an exercise.

TE- Mode

In this case E_z = 0. From Eqn. (2) , we get Hy = constant, which we can choose to be zero. This in turn implies, from Eqn. (3), E_x = 0. We will first solve for E_y using Eqn. (4).

Define k² = ŷ² + ω²∈μ. We have,

the solution of which are well known to be

(complete solution will be obtained by multiplying this with 

We now insert the boundary condition, E_y = 0 on both the plates, i.e. at x= 0 and at x= d.

The former gives B= 0, so that E_y = A sin K_x. The latter condition restricts the values that k can take to   where n = 1,2, … .( n cannot take the value zero because that would make the field identically zero. )

Thus we have,

where A = E_y0 is the maximum value of the field. We can now use this expression in Eqn. (3) to obtain the magnetic field components

Modes are named by specifying the value that n takes. As we have seen the lowest mode is n = 1. This is termed as TE₁₀ mode, the meaning of the second index will be clear when we discuss rectangular waveguides but for the present case it remains zero for all values of n. The following figure gives the electric field profile for n=1 and n=2 for a fixed z.

If we look along the direction of propagation, for the mode, thefield lines crowdat the centre of the guide, where the field strength is strongest.

The corresponding magnetic fields for   are shown below:       

Cutoff Frequency 

Is transmission in this manner always possible? We have,

Propagating solution implies that  Thus we requires,

If the frequency is less than this, the wave attenuates. The phase velocity for the propagating solution is given by

As frequency decreases and approaches the critical value, it becomes infinite. For very large frequencies, the velocity in vacuum approaches that of light 

TM Mode

We will not work out the TM mode algebra. In this case  . The non-zero field components are

TEM Mode

Note that in TM case , unlike in the case of TE modes, we can have m=0 here because the solutions are in terms of cosine functions. In this case we have,

which gives the ratio   which is the intrinsic impedance we have seen to characterize propagation of wave in a uniform medium.

Tutorial Assignment

1. For a guided wave between two infinite conducting planes separated by a distance of 0.25 m, find the cutoff frequency for the TM₂₀ mode. If the operating frequency is 3 GHz, find the phase velocity of the wave.
2. A TE₁₀ mode propagates between two parallel planes separated by a distance of 0.25 m. The planes are lossy and have a conductivity of 5 × 10⁷ S/m. If the maximum electric field strength between the planes is 1000 V/m, determine the power loss per square meter on each plate when the operating frequency is 2 GHz.

Solutions to Tutorial Assignments

1. The critical angular frequencyω_c is given by

            so that the cutoff frequency is given by

             If the operating frequency is 3 GHz, the propagation constant is given by

            The phase velocity is given by

2. The amplitude of linear current density on the plates is equal to the tangential component of the magnetic field on the planes,

               Power loss per unit length of conductor

               We take  . The loss for TE₁₀ is (in J/m)

Self Assessment Questions

1. For a guided wave between two infinite conducting planes separated by a distance of 0.2m. If the operating frequency is 3.3 GHz, find the number of distinct modes that can travel in the guide.
2. A TE₂₀ mode is propagating along the z direction between two parallel conducting planes separated by 0.2m along the x- direction. Find the cutoff frequency. Determine λ_x. If the operating frequency is 2.5 GHz, determine λ_z and the non-vanishing components of the electric and the magnetic field. If the operating frequency is 1.2 GHz, calculate the distance over which the strength of the fields reduce to 1/e of their value.
3. Calculate the rate at which energy is transmitted in a parallel plane waveguide operating in TE₁₀ mode

Solutions to Self Assessment Questions

1. The propagation constant is given by

     For propagation to take place 22 > 5n, so that n<5. This implies 4 TE modes, 4 TM modes and one TEM mode, giving a total of 9 modes.

2. The cutoff frequency is given by   The wavelength in the x direction for   m. If the operating frequency is 2.5 ×      10⁹Hz., the propagation vector is given by (using n=2)

    The fields are as follows :

     To determine λ_z, we use the fact that it is equal to the distance over which the phase of the propagating wave changes by 2_π. Thus

                so that λ_z= 3/20m.

    If the operating frequency is 1.2 GHz, the wave attenuates, and we have,

    so that the attenuation distance is 

3. The fields are given by 

   Power transmitted per unit area is

   Power transmitted in z direction through an area of unit width,