Wave Motion 82 (2018) 16–19

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Wave Motion
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wamot

Complex waves in a dielectric waveguide

Yury Shestopalov
Faculty of Engineering and Sustainable Development, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden

highlights

• Existence of complex waves in a dielectric waveguide of circular cross section is rigorously proved.
• A method for calculating complex waves using a dispersion equation is proposed.
• The location of the wave complex propagation constants is determined.

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: Existence of two families of symmetric complex waves in a dielectric waveguide of circular
Received 3 March 2018 cross section is proved. Eigenvalues of the associated Sturm–Liouville problem on the half-
Accepted 8 July 2018 line are determined.
Available online xxxx
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
MSC:
30E25
34B07
34B24
34D10
34L16
35A10
35B34
35J05
Keywords:
Dielectric waveguide
Surface wave
Complex wave
Dispersion equation

1. Introduction

A dielectric waveguide of circular cross section, a dielectric rod (DR), is a basic structure in the broad family of open
waveguides. Many works (e.g. [1–3]) investigate complex waves in open dielectric waveguides. However, rigorous proof of
their existence remained unsolved. In this work, we report on the proof of the existence of two families of ‘surface’ and ‘pure’
symmetric complex waves in DR using the methods set forth by Shestopalov [4] and Shestopalov et al. [5].

2. Statements and results

Determination of symmetric (azimuthally-independent) TE waves in a DR of radius a described (in Cartesian coordinates

x1 , x2 , x3 ) via nontrivial solutions to homogeneous Maxwell’s equations having the nonzero field components written in

E-mail address: yuyshv@hig.se.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wavemoti.2018.07.005
0165-2125/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 Y. Shestopalov / Wave Motion 82 (2018) 16–19 17

Fig. 1. Dynamics of γ1 (ℑϵ ) on the complex γ -plane at κ = 1 and ℜϵ = 8, 10, 13 (left, central and right curves)as t = ℑϵ increases from 0 to 7.34.

Fig. 2. The first 11 zeros of F̃D on the complex γ -plane at 11 different values of ϵ = 10 + (10 − 0.2(k − 1))i, k = 1, . . . , 11.

√
polar coordinates with r = x21 + x22 as

H = [0, H2 (r , x3 ), 0], E = [E1 (r , z), 0, E3 (r , x3 )], (1)

iβ dφ iωϵ dφ
E1 = − e−iβ x3 , E3 = φ (r)e−iβ x3 , H2 = − e−iβ z , (2)
k2s dr k2s dr

is reduced to a singular Sturm–Liouville problem on the half-line

dφ ϵ dφ ⏐⏐
[ ]⏐
1 d
Lφ ≡ (r ) + k2s φ = 0, r > 0, [φ]|r =a = = 0, (3)
r dr dr k2 dr ⏐
s r =a

k20 − β 2 , r > a,
{
φ ∈ C [0, +∞) ∩ C 2 (0, a) ∩ C 2 (a, +∞), k2s = (4)
ϵ k20 − β 2 , r < a;

i√ 2 √
φ (r) = AH0(1) (r w̃), r > a, w̃ = u − x2 = k 0 1 − γ 2 . (5)
a
18 Y. Shestopalov / Wave Motion 82 (2018) 16–19

(1) √ β
Here H0 (s) is the zero-order Hankel function of the first kind, κ = k0 a, x = κ ϵ − γ 2 , u = κ ϵ − 1, γ = k , β is the
√
0
wave propagation constant, ϵ is permittivity of the homogeneous dielectric, and k0 is the free-space wavenumber. (3)–(5)
constitute a nonselfadjoint eigenvalue problem with respect to (w.r.t.) complex spectral parameter γ ; its eigenvalues, real
or complex, specify real or complex symmetric waves (1), (2). Note that (3), (4) with the condition at infinity φ (r) → 0,
r → ∞, which is a particular case of (5), describes, for real γ , symmetric real surface waves in DR.

Theorem 1. Roots, complex or real, of the dispersion equation (DE)

K1 (w ) J1 (z)
F̃D (z) = 0, F̃D (z) ≡ + , (6)
ϵw K0 (w) zJ0 (z)
√
where z = κ ϵ − γ 2 , w = u2 − z 2 , Jp (x) and Kp (x) are the Bessel and McDonald functions of the order p = 0,1, are eigenvalues
√
of (3)–(5).

The proof makes use of the technique [5] employing application of the continuity conditions in (3) and then proper
analytical continuation of the resulting DE obtained initially for real quantities to the complex domain using condition (5).

Theorem 2. Let ϵ (t) = ϵ ′ + it, t ≥ 0; then under the condition

√
u′ = κ ϵ ′ − 1 > νN0 , N = 1, 2, . . . , ϵ ′ > 1,
where νm
0
, m > 0, is the mth zero of J0 (x), there are N symmetric surface real (t = 0) or complex (t > 0) waves in DR.

The proof is based on reduction to the uniquely solvable Cauchy problem to determine γ (t) defined implicitly by DE
(6) using parameter differentiation. Thus, propagation constants γ (t) of surface complex waves are regular perturbation at
t > 0 of the propagation constants γ (0) of real surface waves: γ (t)-curves ‘start’ from real axis on the complex γ -plane at
t = 0 (Fig. 1).
The next statement specifies sufficient conditions providing the existence of another family of ‘pure’ symmetric complex
waves in DR.

Theorem 3. Assume that the following conditions hold: (i) for a fixed ϵ , ℑϵ ̸ = 0, there is an AˆL such that κ ⏐> ˆ
√ AL ; or⏐ (ii) for a
fixed κ , there is an ε (0) > 0 such that |ϵ| ≥ ε (0) > 1, ℑϵ ̸ = 0; or (iii) there is an U (0) > 0 such that u = κ ⏐ ϵ − 1⏐ ≥ U (0) .
Then there is an r > 0 such that function F̃D (z) has exactly one (complex) zero of multiplicity one at a point zm∗
inside every circle
Γm = {z : |z − νm | = r }, where νm , m ≥ 1, is the mth zero of J1 (x).
1 1

The proof is based on the application of the Rouchet theorem inside Γm for F̃D (z) = g1 (z) + g2 (z) with the properly
separated principal term g1 (z). Fig. 2 shows the location of the first 11 zeros of F̃D (z).
Theorems
√ 1 and 3 yield the existence of symmetric complex waves (1), (2), surface or pure, with the propagation constants
( ∗
)2
zm
βm∗ = k0 ϵ − κ
.

3. Conclusion

We have proved the existence of symmetric complex waves in DR and have determined the location of the corresponding
set of complex roots of the associated DE. Two general wave families of ‘surface’ and ‘pure’ complex waves have been
identified governed by the dependence of their longitudinal wavenumbers on the problem parameters, location on the
complex plane, and behavior at infinity. The former is a regular perturbation of real surface waves with real longitudinal
wavenumbers, whereas the latter, being a phenomenon inherent to DR, are not connected with any real surface wave. The
technique and results can be extended to the TM polarization as well as to DRs and perfectly conducting cylinders with
arbitrary number of concentric dielectric layers.

References

[1] A.W. Snyder, J. Love, Optical Waveguide Theory, Springer, Berlin, 1983.
[2] A. Rajevsky, S. Rajevsky, Complex Waves, Radiotekhnika, Moscow, 2010.
[3] H.M. Barlow, J. Brown, Radio Surface Waves, Oxford University Press, New York, 1962.
[4] Y. Shestopalov, Resonant states in waveguide transmission problems, Progr. Electromagnet. Res. B 64 (2015) 119–143.
[5] Y. Shestopalov, E. Kuzmina, A. Samokhin, On a mathematical theory of open metal-dielectric waveguides, in: Forum for Electromagnetic Research
Methods and Application Technologies, FERMAT, 2014.
 Y. Shestopalov / Wave Motion 82 (2018) 16–19 19

Yury Shestopalov is now professor of mathematics at the University of Gävle, Sweden. He accomplished complete university
career from teaching assistant to professor and department head at Moscow State University (MSU), Karlstad University
and University of Gaevle (since 2013). Y. Shestopalov has been continuously teaching (since 1977) all university courses in
mathematics. In 1992–1993 he created and then was head of the department of computer science at the MSU Kolmogorov
Advanced Education and Science Centre (AESC)—The Kolmogorov School. His main scientific results and contributions are within
the following areas: spectral theory of operators and its application in mathematical methods for electromagnetics; methods of
solution to inverse problems and problems with uncertain data; wave propagation in nonlinear media and nonlinear operator
equations; integral equations, partial differential equations; numerical methods, optimization, applied computer codes, software
and program packages. Among his recent achievements are complete description of the spectrum of waves in a broad class
of inhomogeneously filled waveguides and mathematical theory of inverse waveguide problems. Y. Shestopalov has authored
and co-authored five books, more than 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and in total more than 200 scientific works.
He supervised several Ph.D. works; among his disciples there are active professors in mathematics, applied mathematics and electrical engineering. Y.
Shestopalov performs international cooperation as visiting professor and coheads international research projects with several institutions in Sweden, USA,
Japan, Germany, Finland, Russia, and Ukraine. Since 1977 Y. Shestopalov organized more than 20 and participated in more than 60 international conferences
and symposia; he is Vice-Chairman of Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium and Programme Committee member of several URSI conferences.