Solutions to Problems in Jackson,

Classical Electrodynamics, Third Edition

Homer Reid
May 24, 2002

Chapter 8: Waveguide Derivations

Before starting the problems, I thought it would be useful to run through

my own derivations of some of the formulas from this chapter.

Waveguides and cavities: basic pedagogy

The unifying feature of waveguide and cavity problems is that we single out
one spatial coordinate and announce from the start that the fields will have
sinusoidal dependence on that coordinate. Taking the special coordinate to be z,
this means that all components of all fields have the functional form f (x, y)eikz
for some wavevector k.
Assuming harmonic time dependence, we write explicitly
n o
E(x) = Ex (x, y)i + Ey (x, y)j + Ez (x, y)k ei(kzt)
n o (1)
B(x) = Bx (x, y)i + By (x, y)j) + Bz (x, y)k ei(kzt)

We have here a total of six functions f (x, y) that we must find to satisfy
Maxwells equations with the relevant boundary conditions. At first this would
appear tough since the six fields are all coupled by Maxwells equations, but
after a little algebra we obtain the following simplified situation: The z di-
rection fields Ez (x, y) and Bz (x, y) turn out to satisfy (separately) simple one-
dimensional differential equations, which may be readily solved upon specifying
the boundary conditions for a particular situation. Meanwhile, the remaining
fields (Ex , Ey , Bx , By ) can be expressed simply as linear combinations of Ez and
Bz and their derivatives, so once we obtain the z fields we have everything. In
what follows well derive the differential equations satisfied by Ez and Bz and
the equations giving the remaining fields in terms of them.

1
Homer Reids Solutions to Jackson Problems: Chapter 8 2

The differential equations for Ez and Bz

The Maxwell curl equations are
B 1 E
E= , B=
t c2m t
where cm is the speed of light in the medium. We begin by applying the first
curl equation to our ansatz (1), obtaining
y Ez ikEy = iBx (2)
x Ez + ikEx = iBy (3)
x Ey y Ex = iBz , (4)
and we pause to solve the first two of these for Ex and Ey :
i i
Ex = By x Ez , Ey = Bx y Ez . (5)
k k k k
Next we apply the second curl equation to our ansatz, obtaining
i
y Bz ikBy = Ex (6)
c2m

x Bz + ikBx = i 2 Ey (7)
cm

x By y Bx = i 2 Ez . (8)
cm
But in (5) we solved for Ex and Ey , and if we then plug those solutions into (6)
and (7) we can solve for Bx and By in terms of Bz and Ez :
ikc2
 

Bx = 2 m2 2 x Bz + 2 y Ez (9)
k cm cm k
ikc2
 

By = 2 m2 2 y Bz 2 x Ez . (10)
k cm cm k
Finally, with the ansatz (1) the equation B = 0 reads
Bx By
+ = ikBz .
x y
When we plug (9) and (10) into this, the terms involving Ez fields cancel, and
we obtain an equation involving Bz alone:
 2
2
  2 
2
+ 2 Bz + k Bz = 0
x2 y c2m
or
2 2
 
+ Bz + 2 Bz = 0 (11)
x2 y 2
Homer Reids Solutions to Jackson Problems: Chapter 8 3

where r
2
= k2.
c2
If we had carried out this derivation in the reverse order we would have obtained
the same equation for Ez :
 2
2


+ Ez + Ez = 0. (12)
x2 y 2

We can think of equations (11) and (12) as eigenvalue equations that have solu-
tions only for certain values of the parameter , which depend on the boundary
conditions.
Armed with equations (11) and (12) and the boundary conditions appropri-
ate to our problem we can now solve for Bz and Ez and then use (9) and (10)
to find the remaining components of the B field. The remaining components of
the E field are given by analogous equations:

ikc2m  
Ex = x Ez +y Bz (13)
2 k 2 c2m k
ikc2  
Ey = 2 m2 2 y Ez x Bz . (14)
k cm k

Boundary Conditions; TE, TM, TEM Modes

The boundary conditions on the fields at the surfaces of the waveguide or cavity
are that Ek and B be continuous, where denotes the component of the
vector normal to the boundary surface and k includes all other components of
the vector. This means that the two eigenvalue equations (11) and (12) must be
solved subject to different boundary conditions, which means in general their
eigenvalues will be different. If we have a solution of (12) for some value of
(i.e. for some combination of values of and k), then there will be no nonzero
solution of (11) for that value of , and hence we must have Bz = 0 identically
for the mode at that frequency and wavevector. Since in this case the magnetic
field has nonzero components only transverse to the direction of propagation,
this is called a transverse magnetic mode. Similarly, if (11) can be solved with
nonzero Bz at some , then Ez = 0 and we have a transverse electric mode. A
mode for which both Ez and Bz are zero is called a transverse electromagnetic
mode, and can only exist in the region between two conducting surfaces, not
within a single conductor as is possible for TE and TM modes.
Since either Ez or Bz is zero, we can simplify some of the equations above
and collect results appropriate to the two cases.
Homer Reids Solutions to Jackson Problems: Chapter 8 4

TM Modes TE Modes

Bz 0 Ez 0
 
2t Ez + 2 Ez = 0, En  =0 Bn 
2t Bz 2

S
+ Bz = 0, =0
n S
ikc2m
Ex = x Ez ic2m
2 k 2 c2m Ex = y Bz
2 k 2 c2m
ikc2m
Ey = y Ez ic2m
2 k 2 c2m Ey = 2 x Bz
k 2 c2m
i
Bx = y Ez ikc2
2 k 2 c2m Bx = 2 m2 2 x Bz
k cm
i
By = 2 x Ez ikc2
k 2 c2m By = 2 m2 2 y Bz
k cm

(A factor of ei(kzt) is understood in all of these expressions.)

For TM modes, the boundary condition is Ek = 0, and Ez is always perpen-

dicular to the boundary surfaces, so the boundary condition for the eigenvalue
equation is Ez = 0. For the case of TE modes, the boundary condition is B = 0.
Suppose one boundary surface is the yz plane. The normal to this plane is the
x direction, so Bx must vanish at this surface; but we just saw that in the TE
case Bx x Bz , i.e. the derivative of Bz normal to the boundary surface must
vanish. This is general: the boundary condition for the eigenvalue equation in
the TM case is Bz /n = 0.

Power flow; Energy Loss

The flow of power down a waveguide is described by the z component of the
Poynting vector S = E H = 1 E B. Using the boxed expressions above, for
the two types of modes we obtain
1
SzTM = (Ex By Ey Bx )

kc2m
(x Ez )2 + (y Ez )2 e2i(kzt)
 
= 2 2 2 2
( k cm )

or, in the time average,

kc2m
(x Ez )2 + (y Ez )2
 
=
2( 2 2 2
k cm ) 2

k 
(x Ez )2 + (y Ez )2 .

= 4
(15)
2
Homer Reids Solutions to Jackson Problems: Chapter 8 5

Similarly, for TE modes we obtain

k 
(x Bz )2 + (y Bz )2 .

SzTE = 4
(16)
2
To address the issue of dissipation in the boundaries, we solve Maxwells
equations within the boundary surfaces. The two curl equations are

E = iB (17)
B = J iE
= ( i) E
E (18)

since   in most cases. (For example, for a copper waveguide with air
or vacuum interior we have we have 6 107 1 m1 , while  9
1012 1 m1 ( in rad/sec), so the approximation is good up to frequencies
1019 rad/sec.)
Now we assume that the fields are only changing significantly in the direc-
tion normal to the boundary surface (i.e., as we go deeper and deeper into the
boundary surface the fields die out rapidly, whereas as we move along parallel
to the boundary surface the fields dont change much) and keep only the normal
derivative in the curl equations. If measures the depth of penetration into the
surface, the curl equations become
E
= iB

B
= E

Differentiating the first of these, taking the cross product with of both sides,
and substituting in the second equation yields

2E
= iE
2

or, using the bac-cab rule,

2 E 2E

= iE.
2 2
Evidently the component of the LHS vanishes here, so E = 0; the electric
field within the conducting boundary has no component normal to the surface.
For the remaining components we obtain

2 Ek
+ iEk = 0
2
Homer Reids Solutions to Jackson Problems: Chapter 8 6

with solution

Ek = e i
E0
(1+i)
=e E0
p
where = 2/ is the skin depth and E0 is the field just at the surface of
the boundary. To keep the solution from blowing up as we penetrate into the
conductor we take the negative sign in the exponent. From (17) we then obtain

i1
B= E0 )e(1+i) .
(

Evaluating this at the surface yields the modified boundary condition on the
fields in the cavity or waveguide:
i1
B0 = (
E0 ). (19)

From this equation we can work out the power loss per unitR length in the
cavity or waveguide. The power dissipated in a volume dV is (J E) dV =
E 2 dV. We integrate over the volume occupied by the boundary surfaces in
R

a length dz :
I Z 
2 2(1+i)
dP = dz E0 e d dl e2i(kzt)
0
 

I
= dz E0 dl e2i(kzt)
2
2(1 + i)

or, taking the time average,

dP
I
= E02 dl (20)
dz 4 2
where the line integral is over the cross section of the surface boundary at a
fixed value of z.