I fit2

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS. VOL. 31. NO 3 , MAY 1995

A Numerical Computation of External Q of

Resonant Cavities
Hajime Igarashi, Yasuyuki Sugawara and Toshihisa Honma
Department of Electrical Eng., Faculty of Eng., Hokkaido University
N13, W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060, Japan
Abstract - This paper describes a simple numerical method
based on the finite element method for the analysis of the
resonant frequencies and external Q values of a waveguide
loaded cavity. The present method solves a second order
proper equation with a damping term, which can be reduced
to a linear one. It is shown that the present method provides
the reasonable resonant frequencies and corresponding Q
values for wide range of the electromagnetic coupling.

I. INTRODUCTION
In general, the electromagnetic cavity resonators
are open systems and are coupled to external energy
sources through, e.g., coaxial lines and waveguides.
The strong electromagnetic coupling, which h a s
attracted considerable attention especially in heavily
dumped cavities for particle accelerators [ l l , [21,
disturbs the electromagnetic fields in the cavities and
then significantly modifies the resonant frequencies.
The electromagnetic fields and resonant frequencies
of closed cavities can be effectively analyzed by
various numerical methods. There are, however, few
methods by which a cavity coupled to waveguide is
effectively analyzed. Kroll et al. have reported a
useful, highly sophisticated numerical method for
computing the external Q, which characterizes the
degree of external coupling, and resonant frequencies
of the waveguide loaded cavities [ Z ] . Although their
method, which is based on the theoretical relation
between the phase change of electric fields and the
frequency, can give the above quantities only using
conventional computational codes for closed cavities,
it requires physical consideration on the electric field
distribution. Moreover, the method results i n a
nonlinear equation, including several unknowns,
which does not seem easy to handle.
This paper describes a simple, new approach based
on finite element method for the analysis of the
resonant frequencies and external Q values of a
waveguide loaded cavity. In this method, the Robintype boundary conditions is imposed on the virtual
boundary which divides the whole region into the
finite cavity-waveguide a n d infinitely long
waveguide regions. The introduction of this boundary
condition leads to a second order proper equation with
a damping term, which can be reduced to a linear one
solvable by standard numerical techniques.

11. FORMULATION
In this paper, we restrict our consideration to the
two dimensional problem. Fig. 1 shows a schematic of
the waveguide loaded cavity with a metallic wall.
Provided that the cross section of the system in the xy
plane is independent of z, the z component of the
electric field, a, in this cavity-waveguide system is
governed by the two dimensional scalar Helmholtz
equation

V2@

+ k2@

= 0,

where k denotes free space w a v e n u m b e r . T h e

functional F for (1) is expressed in the form

where SZ is the two dimensional solution region and

which separates
the finite cavity-waveguide region SZ to be discretized
and the infinitely long waveguide region. We
consider here the incident TEIomode wave $*"coming
from the right hand side of the model. The electric
field is decomposed into the incident and reflection
wave components a s

rvis the virtual boundary a t x=x,,

(3)
The reflection wave Qrefnear rVis composed of only
the principal mode if rV is located sufficiently far
from the cavity so that the higher modes attenuate.
Thus, near rv,the incident and reflection waves can

Manuscript received July 6, 1994. This work was supported in

part by Inoue Foundation of Science.
0018-9464/95$04.00 0 1995 IEEE

Waveguide

Fig. 1 Waveguide loaded cavity

1643

be expressed in the form

(4a)

aref(x, y ) = R E , exp C-jpx: ) cos (

EY)

(4b)

where Eo is the amplitude of the incident wave, p the

propagation constant of the incident wave, a the
width of the waveguide, and R denotes the reflection
constant. Differentiating (3) with respect to x and
using (4a) and (4b), we have the Robin-type boundary
condition on rv

a+(

xo, Y )

ax

+ j ~ +x,,(

where [K'I = [Kl - :k [MIand y=jJ. We see here that

the problem results i n t h e second order proper
equation which governs a damping oscillation
s y s t e m . F u r t h e r m o r e , i n t r o d u c t i o n of t h e
transformation

(94 =

in (9) then leads to a linear eigenvalue problem,

10 1

[I1

-IMJ-'[Kq

where

y 1 = 2 j ~ + ~x,,
"(y)

[ :;}= [ ;}.

-[MJ]-',C,

I i :; 1 : 1
=yi

[a denotes a unit matrix. After solution of (11)

(5) by a standard numerical technique, we can readily

The insertion of the boundary condition -(5) to (2)

obtain the complex eigenvalues k, eigenfrequencies f

and corresponding external Q values a s follows :

k = [(rc/a)2-y 2 3 U2 ,
f = c Re (k)/2n,
Q = R e (k) /[2 I m (k)l,
Moreover, the finite element discretization of (6)
gives the matrix equation,

and {Ne} and {NI) are the shape function vectors for
the field and boundary elements, respectively, and
{Neu}denotes the derivative of {Ne}with respect to U.
By varying the frequency of the incident wave and
solving (71, we get the frequency response of the
waveguide loaded cavity. At resonance, however,
there is a n outgoing wave but no incoming wave [21.
Thus, the driving term in the right hand side of (7)
can be eliminated at resonance. In addition, the
dispersion relation, p2= k2 - k,2, where k, is the cut-off
wavenumber of TElo mode, holds in the waveguide.
Equation (7)then becomes

[K'I {+I + Y2 [MI {+} + Y E 1 {@I= (01

(11)

(9)

(12a)
(12b)
(12c)

where c denotes velocity of light i n vacuum. The

external
d e f i n e d b y (12c)
the
electromagnetic coupling between the cavity and
waveguide, and also characterizes the energy loss
through the waveguide [21, which is similar to the
well known definition for a cavity with a lossy wall
[31. We can easily find the resonant frequency, for the
principal cavity mode, which gives the largest Q
value. The linearization mentioned above increases
the number of unknowns by factor two and produces
full s u b m a t r i c e s i n t h e s e c o n d row of ( 1 1 ) .
Nevertheless, the present method has a n obvious
advantage that it does not require choice of adequate
frequency-length pairs through observation of field
plots, in comparison with the method by Kroll et al.
[21. Moreover, the present method automatically
gives the field distribution as eigenfunctions of (11).
These advantages compensate for the drawbacks in
the present method.
111. NUMERICAL
RESULTS
We here apply the method introduced i n the
previous section to the analysis of a waveguide loaded
cavity, shown in Fig.2, which has been taken up as
TEAM workshop problem 18. In the analysis, the
region 52 was discretized by t r i a n g u l a r f i n i t e
elements of the second order. The number of nodal
points, which depends on the choice of D and t, is
about 600.

I644

FIT

----------

. TE niodewave

sa

1
0
-

Virtual boundary rv

Fig. 2 Waveguide loaded cavity with an iris

The analytical values for this simple configuration

are obtained from the equivalent circuit shown i n
Fig. 3 [2]. Thus, the equation for p i s given by

where B represents the normalized susceptance and

is approximated for a thin iris t = 0 a s t41

Il+{8 - (j?aln)2}u24

sin2(

f)].

(14)

When the iris has finite thickness, we estimate B

using the following formula [51 numerically obtained
by the transmission equation method,

B =

( 0.51kc-t )2Cot2( -2
ilk-t

rt0.985d-1.25t

0.5/kc-t

).

We also compute the resonant frequencies by the

use of the three-parameter formula given by Kroll et
al. 123. In this method, one finds the complex resonant
frequency from the theoretical, nonlinear relation,
including three unknown parameters, between the
phase change i3 along the waveguide and frequency f.
To determine this relation, we have to solve three
eigenvalue problems to find the 0-fpairs for the three
different closed regions formed by i n s e r t i n g a
shorting plane in the waveguide. The shorting planes
are located near rV i n our analysis.
Tables I and I1 show the dependence of the external
Q on the choice of the waveguide length D for t = O
and t=5a/144 when the normalized iris opening
width dJa is chosen a s 0.5. It is seen that the results
by the present method and Kroll's method agree well
with the results by the equivalent circuit, whereas
the variation of D yields small changes in Q in the
results by the latter method. These fluctuations in
Kroll's method may be improved by employing the
four-parameter formula, i n s t e a d of t h e t h r e e parameter formula. However, note that it is not easy
to find adequate 0-fpairs for the accurate fitting of
t h e 0-f c u r v e . On t h e o t h e r h a n d , t h e s l i g h t
discrepancies between the results by the equivalent
circuit and present method may be due to either
discretization e r r o r i n t h e p r e s e n t method or
insufficient accuracy in the susceptance (14) and (15).
Figs. 4 and 5 show t h e dependence of t h e
normalized resonant frequency [, and Q on the iris
opening width dla for the case of D =(5/9)a. We see
that the present method gives the values consistent
with those by the equivalent circuit, for the wide
range of electromagnetic coupling.

(15)
Table I
Dependence of external Q on waveguide length D for
t=oa

The nonlinear equation (13) can be easily solved by a

standard root finding technique. Of course, t h i s
equivalent circuit technique can not be applied to the
analysis of arbitrary shaped cavities, in contrast to
the present method.

External Q
D
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50

Equivalent circuit. Y odenotes the characteristic

admittance of the waveguide.

Kroll

21.90
21.90
21.91
21.91
21.91
21.91
21.91
21.91
21.91

21.70
23.84
20.68
22.24
21.99
22.10
20.97
22.21
22.73

The iris opening width d u is taken to be 0.5. The

external Q computed by the equivalent circuitwith (13)
and (14) is 21.70.
The three-parameter formula in I21 is employed.

Fig. 3

Present

I645

Table I1
Dependence of external Q on waveguide length D for
t=5af144 a

1.0
h

'

External Q

0.50
0.75
1 .oo
1.25
1.50

1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50

Present

Kroll

34.3 1
34.3 1
34.31
34.31
34.31
34.31
34.31
34.31
34.31

33.88
36.37
32.85
34.57
34.12
34.44
33.19
34.56
35.38

(t=O)

AKroll

(t=5a/144)

N
4
rl

0.6

z
0.75

0.25
0.5
Normalized iris opening width d/a

0 Present (t=O)

0 Present (t=5a/144)

lo4 -

.-i

Fig. 5
Plot of the resonant frequency f,,, normalized with
respect to that for closed cavity, against the iris opening width
da.

of the iris employing elements of edge size 1 d 5 0 , to

obtain the results shown here.
Since the boundary condition (5) is valid even if the
cavity has three, dimensional electromagnetic fields,
the present method can be extended to analyze
cavities with three dimensional structure, provided
t h a t t h e spectrum pollution, due to inadequate
numerical treatment of vector fields, is appropriately
avoided by, e.g., the edge elements. In addition, we
can also use the boundary condition ( 5 ) for t h e
analysis of characteristics of waveguide discontinuity
such as a n inductive window and bend.

V. SUMMARY

d
U
bl

AKroll

Circuit
(t=O)

The iris opening width d a is taken to be 0.5. The

external Q computed by the equivalent circuit with (13)
and (15)is 33.32.
The three-parameter formula in [2] is employed.

103

0.8

bl

0 Present (t=O)

OPresent (t=5a/144)

U
C

We have described a new method for the analysis of

the resonant frequency and Q value of waveguide
loaded cavities. The present method has been shown
to give the reasonable external Q values for wide
r a n g of coupling, only by s o l v i n g a s t a n d a r d
eigenvalue problem. We plan to extend out method
for the three dimensional problem.

102 -

10

REFERENCES
I

0.2s
0.5
0.75
Normalized iris opening width d/a

Fig. 4 Plot of the Q value against the iris opening width da.
'Present', 'Kroll' and 'Circuit' represent the results by the
present method, the three-parameter formula [21 and t h e
equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 3,respectively.

It may be worthwhile to note here that the Q values

computed by the present method depend especially on
the finite element discretization near the iris. This is
due to the singularity in c$ at the corner of the iris.
Thus, we finely discretized the region in the vicinity

111 R. B. Palmer, SLAC - PUB - 4542,1988.

[21 N. M. Kroll and D. U. L. Yu, "Computer determination of the
external Q and resonant frequency of waveguide loaded
cavities," Particle Accelerators, vol. 34,pp. 231-250,1990.
[31 R. E. Collin, Field Theory of Guided Waves, 2nd ed., IEEE
Press, NewYork, 1991,pp.387-389.
I41 R. E.Collin, Foundations for microwave engineering, 2nd ed.,
McGraw-Hill,Singapore, 1992.
I51 F. Ishihara, T. Sibazaki, T. Suga and S. Iiguchi, "Formulae for
Estimating the Wide Band Reflection Characteristics of
I n d u c t i v e Window w i t h Thickness i n R e c t a n g u l a r
pp.92Waveguide," (in Japanese), Trans. IEI(=E, vol. J75-C-I,
100,1992.