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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES
A Millimeter-Wave Gyroelectric Waveguide Isolator
Ghassan N. Jawad, Member, IEEE, Christopher I. Duff, Member, IEEE,
and Robin Sloan, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract— In this paper, a new type of millimeter-wave
waveguide isolator is demonstrated. After developing an analyt-
ical model for a rectangular waveguide loaded with stratified
media, all the modes propagating through the structure are
found. Isolators are then designed by utilizing the frequency
ranges where high nonreciprocal attenuation is identified. Here,
an isolator is designed to work within the Ka-band by loading
a WR-28 waveguide with a transversely magnetized indium
antimonide (InSb) slab cooled to 77 K. Measured performance
shows more than 20-dB isolation with 1-dB insertion loss, which
agrees with theoretical predictions. Moreover, the effects of
changing the magnetic bias (B0 ) and adding dielectric layers
above the InSb slab were analyzed theoretically and verified
through measurement. Results prove the possibility of achieving
high isolation using a weaker magnetic bias by topping the gyro-
electric slab with dielectric layers. Nonreciprocal behavior was
also demonstrated using an isolator working at 105 GHz, where
simulated results show more than 33-dB isolation with 1.16-dB
insertion loss. The results presented in this paper could pave the
way toward the realization of nonreciprocal components working
in the submillimeter-wave and terahertz frequency ranges, where
the performance of the classical ferrite device deteriorates.
Index Terms— Gyrotropism, indium antimonide, isolators,
millimeter-wave devices, modal analysis.
I. I NTRODUCTION
M ICROWAVE isolators are important components in
radar and communication systems. They are used to
minimize standing waves seen by transmitters and reduce
the reflection from antennas [1]. A microwave circulator is
usually used as an isolator by terminating one of its ports
with a matched load. However, smaller and lower cost devices
with better performance can be obtained by designing stand-
alone isolators [1]. Gyromagnetic behavior in ferrite mate-
rials has been utilized to design and fabricate most types
of nonreciprocal components, including isolators. However,
ferrite nonreciprocal components suffer from many limitations
at high frequencies because of their high loss and limited
saturation magnetization [2]. On the other hand, magneti-
cally biased semiconductors exhibit significant nonreciprocal
gyroelectric behavior at higher frequency ranges. This makes
such materials excellent candidates for replacing ferrite in
many millimeter and submillimeter wave systems that need
Manuscript received July 7, 2016; revised September 21, 2016 and
November 15, 2016; accepted November 19, 2016.
G. N. Jawad is with the Department of Electronics and Communication, Uni-
versity of Baghdad, Baghdad, Jadriya, Iraq, and also with The University of
Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. (e-mail: ghassan.n.jawad@ieee.org).
C. I. Duff and R. Sloan are with the Microwave and Communication
Systems Research Group, School of Electrical and Electronics Engineer-
ing, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K. (e-mail:
C.Duff@manchester. ac.uk; Rob.Sloan@manchester.ac.uk).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2016.2640298
0018-9480 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
1
nonreciprocal devices, such as terahertz quantum cascade
lasers [3], [4] where isolation is required to prevent frequency
instabilities.
Since the mid 1960s, efforts have been made to use semi-
conductors [such as indium antimonide (InSb)] to design and
fabricate isolators [5]–[9] and circulators [10]–[12]. Mean-
while, other researchers have dedicated their efforts to ana-
lyze the electromagnetic fields inside waveguide structures
partially filled with gyroelectric media [13], [14]. However,
the outcomes of these analytical methods were rarely used for
designing actual nonreciprocal devices. In addition, modern
advancements in 3-D electromagnetic simulation packages
allow more flexibility in demonstrating and optimizing such
designs.
In this paper, a theoretical method of analyzing rectangular
waveguides loaded with stratified dielectric and gyroelec-
tric media is developed based on the previously reported
approaches [13], [14]. This method finds all the modes
propagating through a rectangular waveguide partially filled
with dielectrics and transversely magnetized semiconductors.
In addition, an isolator was designed and realized by loading
a rectangular waveguide with a transversely magnetized InSb
slab. The structure has to be cooled down to 77 K to reduce the
electron collision frequency and give rise to the gyroelectric
behavior.
Theoretical analysis shows high nonreciprocity in both
phase and attenuation constants in one of the propagating
modes. This behavior can be controlled by changing the value
of the magnetic bias. Hence, it is possible to design isolators
to provide optimum performance at any specific frequency.
This type of isolator has many advantages over the previ-
ously reported gyroelectric isolators [6], [15]. For instance,
it does not require either an absorbing sheet or rectangular to
circular waveguide transition to obtain isolation. In addition,
the theoretical model gives more flexibility to the designs,
so they can be realized at frequencies up to the terahertz range
using relatively low values of magnetic bias.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. The mathe-
matical model used for electromagnetic analysis is introduced
in Section II. Section III illustrates the implementation of the
proposed analysis to a rectangular waveguide loaded with InSb
at 77 K, and compares the outcomes with the results of elec-
tromagnetic simulations. Measurement results alongside a pro-
posed design for an isolator working at a higher frequency of
105 GHz are included and discussed in Section IV. Section V
highlights the main conclusions from the presented work.
II. A NALYTICAL M ODEL
According to the Drude–Zener model, a magnetically biased
semiconductor in the x-direction is characterized by its tensor
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2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES
Fig. 1. Layout of a waveguide loaded with layered media.
permittivity, which can be expressed as [10]
⎡ ⎤
ζ 0 0 {E x , ηH y , ηHz } = { Eˆx , η Ĥ y , η Ĥz }cos(hx)e−γ z
[] = ⎣ 0 ε jκ ⎦
0 − jκ ε
where the two tensor components (ε and κ) depend on the
frequency of operation, as well as the cyclotron and the
plasma angular frequencies (ωc and ω p , respectively) where
1/2
ωc = me∗ B0 and ω p = ((e2 Ne )/(0 r m ∗e )) . Here, e is the
e
electron charge in coulombs, m ∗e is the electron’s effective
mass in kg, Ne is the carrier concentration in m −3 , 0 is the
vacuum’s permittivity, and B0 is the applied steady magnetic
field in tesla. The third tensor component (ζ ), on the other
hand, depends only on the frequency of operation and the
plasma frequency (ω p ).
Consider the model shown in Fig. 1, where a waveguide
with rectangular cross section of a × b is filled with p layers
of different media aligned in parallel to the x − z plane. Each
layer can be either a dielectric (with a dielectric constant of r )
or gyroelectric (characterized by a tensor permittivity []). It is
assumed that the media in all the layers are uniform in the
x- and z-directions, and the tangential field components are
continuous along the interfaces between the layers. Moreover,
field components of all the modes are assumed to vary
sinusoidally in the x-direction, and described as
  nπ x   nπ x 
A j,n (y)sin + B j,n (y)cos e−γ z (2)
a a
where the subscript j refers to the field component (x, y, or z),
n is an integer, and γ is the propagation constant, given the
propagation is in the direction of increasing z for I m(γ ) > 0.
⎡ ⎤
− j hk
⎢ 0
After applying the boundary conditions at x = 0 and a,
electrical field components parallel to these boundaries can be
expressed as
E y = A2,n (y)sin(hx)e−γ z (3a)
E z = A3,n (y)sin(hx)e−γ z (3b)
where h = (nπ/a).
The field behavior described in (3) limits the properties
of the considered media in the i th layer to be symmetric in
the x-direction. In other words, the semiconductor considered
here should be magnetically biased in the x-direction and
characterized by the tensor permittivity expressed in (1).
Solving Maxwell’s two curl equations after substituting the
permittivity tensor in (1) will result into finding expressions
for all the field components, and they can be written as
{E y , E z , ηHx } = { Eˆy , Eˆz , η Ĥx }sin(hx)e−γ z (4a)
(4b)
(1)
where Ê x,y,z and Ĥx,y,z are functions of y only.
The solution of Maxwell’s equations given the field expres-
sions in (4) yields six equations for all the field com-
ponents in terms of each other. They can be rearranged
to become four equations in terms of field components
subjected to the derivative in the y-direction (∇ y ) only,
as expressed in (5) at the bottom of this page. Here,
√
k = ω 0 μ0 and η = − j (μ0/0 )1/2 .
It is possible to write the relation (5) in matrix form as
∇ y [φ̂] = [ A][φ̂]. (6)
It can be seen that (6) is a differential equation, which has a
solution of the form [13], [16]
[φ̂] y = e[A](y−yi−1 ) [φ̂] yi−1 (7)
for yi−1 ≤ y ≤ yi . The solution in (7) indicates that the set of
fields (φ̂) at any point y is related to that at the interface
directly before it (i.e., at yi−1 ) by the exponential of the
matrix [ A] multiplied by the distance between y and yi−1 .
Hence, the fields at any two consecutive interfaces are related
to each other by means of a transfer matrix (Ti )
[Ti ] = e[A]wi (8)
where wi is the width of the layer i sandwiched between the
two interfaces.
Since the field components are assumed to be continu-
ous across the interfaces, their values at the last interface
(at y p = b) can be found in terms of those at the first interface
γh h2
k− ⎥
⎡ ⎤ ⎢ ε  kε 2
kε ⎥⎡ ⎤
Ê x ⎢ jγ k γ γh ⎥ Ê x
⎢ − k+ ⎥
⎢ Ê z ⎥ ⎢ 0
ε ⎥ ⎢ Ê z ⎥
⎢
∇y ⎣ ⎥ =⎢ kε kε ⎥⎢ ⎥ (5)
η Ĥx ⎦ ⎢⎢ γh kκ 2 h2 jγ κ j hκ ⎥ ⎣ η Ĥ ⎦
⎥ x
⎢ kε + − − ⎥ η Ĥ
η Ĥz ⎢  k
ε k ε ε ⎥ z
⎣ γ2 γh ⎦
− kζ + − 0 0
k k
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JAWAD et al.: MILLIMETER-WAVE GYROELECTRIC WAVEGUIDE ISOLATOR 3

(at y0 = 0) by multiplying the transfer matrices of all the

layers between them. For a waveguide filled with p layers,
the overall transfer matrix is applied as
[φ̂] y p = [T p ][T p−1 ] . . . [T2 ][T1 ][φ̂] y0 = [T ][φ̂] y0 . (9)
Applying boundary conditions at y = 0 and b will make
Ê x and Ê z vanish at these two positions, resulting into the
following equations:
Ê x (b) = t13 η Ĥx (0) + t14 η Ĥz (0) = 0 (10a)
Ê z (b) = t23 η Ĥx (0) + t24 η Ĥz (0) = 0 (10b)
where ti j is an element of the matrix [T ] that lies in the i th
row and the j th column. These four elements can be treated
as a matrix, the determinant of which should vanish for a
nontrivial solution to exist.
The algorithm of finding the complex propagation con-
stant (γ ) for a certain mode starts by finding the transfer
matrices of all the layers shown in Fig. 1. The overall transfer
matrix ([T ]) is then realized by multiplying all the transfer
matrices together. Next, the search algorithm reported in [13]
is used to find the zeros of the function f (γ ), where
f (γ ) = t13 t24 − t14 t23 . (11)
Propagation constants are the values of γ at which the above-
mentioned function vanishes. Distribution of the fields compo-
nents along the y-direction for any mode is then found by cal-
culating the field amplitude vectors at the interfaces between
the layers using the transfer matrices given γ of that mode.
III. I MPLEMENTING THE A LGORITHM
The developed algorithm is implemented here to find the
complex propagation constants of the modes in a WR-28
waveguide (a = 7.11 mm and b = 3.56 mm) loaded with Fig. 2. Calculated complex propagation constant of the propagating modes
an InSb slab at 77 K transversely biased with a magnetic through a partially loaded WR-28 wavegudie with InSb at 77 K. (a) Real part.
flux (B0 ) of 1 T. The slab height (Ts ) is considered to (b) Imaginary part.
be =(b/4). Measured electronic properties for InSb at 77 K
reported in [17] are used in the calculations. Here, a mode increase and decrease. However, this mode does not show the
is considered to be propagating when Im(γ ) > Re(γ ). same behavior when observed on the opposite direction of
Since all the found modes are hybrid, they are denoted as propagation (EH11− ). Above this range of frequencies, a new
EHnm or HEnm , where n is the integer used in (2) and m is EH11− mode starts to propagate, while the previously tracked
the order of the mode. EH11− mode changes to become similar to the EH12 mode
Fig. 2 shows the real and imaginary parts of the propagation in the forward direction (EH12+ ), where most of the field is
constants found for the above-mentioned structure for n = 1. confined in the gyroelectric slab, although the fields in this
Analysis show that some modes with n = 1 also exist, but they mode (i.e., EH12− ) are shifted toward the top of the slab,
are less likely to be effective when the structure is excited with as shown in Fig. 3(f).
the dominant waveguide mode (TE10 ). A similar phenomenon was observed by Gardiol [13]
Solid line in Fig. 2(b) indicates a hybrid mode (denoted and Bernardi [18] with rectangular waveguides loaded with
as EH11 ) propagating in both directions of propagation. In this transversely magnetized ferrite slabs. In that case, two modes
mode, most of the field is confined in the free space above the were defined to be coupled to each other, one of them
InSb slab, as shown (for E y ) in Fig. 3(b) and (d). Another undergoes an increase and the other a decrease in attenuation.
hybrid mode is observed to be propagating in the forward As a result, an attenuation (hump) was observed over a certain
direction only with higher phase constant, which is EH12 . frequency range. Within the same range, it was found that
The plot of E y shown in Fig. 3(a) indicates that this mode the phase constant of one of the modes crosses zero. Here,
features the fields shifted toward the bottom of the InSb slab. however, both modes are denoted as (EH11 ), because the field
At f = 30 GHz, the mode EH11 in the forward direction behavior is the same, as can be concluded by inspecting the
(EH11+ ) starts to decrease with frequency until f = 34 GHz field plots in Fig. 3.
where it starts to increase again. Throughout this frequency In the CST MWS electromagnetic simulation package,
range, the attenuation of this mode undergoes a significant it is possible to use the frequency domain solver (with
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4 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES

Fig. 4. Simulated scattering parameters and calculated EH11+ mode

attenuation for a gyroelectric loaded waveguide.

Fig. 3. Calculated electric field component E y distribution along the

y-direction for gyroelectric loaded waveguide for the points shown in Fig. 2.
Shaded areas represent the location of the InSb slab. (a) Point 1. (b) Point 2.
(c) Point 3. (d) Point 4. (e) Point 5. (f) Point 6.

tetrahedral mesh) for simulating gyroelectric materials. Such

type of material is defined by setting the values of the
plasma, cyclotron, and collision frequencies, in addition to the
direction of the magnetic bias before starting the simulation.
Here, a 25-mm-long WR-28 waveguide loaded with a 24-
mm-long InSb slab at 77 K biased in the x-direction is
created. Fig. 4 shows the simulated scattering parameters
of this structure alongside with the calculated nonreciprocal
attenuation constant for the EH11+ mode (α+ ). It can be
seen that more than 50-dB isolation is obtained within the
frequency range at which the attenuation of the EH11+ mode
is maximized. Reflection is relatively high, but it is less
than −10 dB for all the bands. The effect of higher modes
on both transmission and reflection is apparent at higher
frequencies.
Propagating modes in the simulated structure can be verified
by inspecting the distribution of the electric field compo-
nent (E y ) along the z-direction at the frequency of maximum
isolation ( f = 31 GHz), as shown in Fig. 5. When the
input port is 1, it is expected for two modes to propagate,
namely, EH11+ and EH12+ , as shown in Fig. 2(b). However,
at f = 31 GHz, the mode EH11+ is highly attenuated (α+ ≈
371 Np m−1 = 3222 dB m−1 ), so it is not expected to be
distributed along the z-direction. The other mode (EH12+ ),
on the other hand, is propagating with a phase constant of
2464 rad m−1 at 31 GHz, which is associated with a wave-
length of 2.55 mm. By inspecting Fig. 5(a), one mode appears
to propagate through the slab with a profile very similar to
that shown in Fig. 3(a) for the EH12+ mode. Moreover, the
Fig. 5. Simulated distribution of the electric field component E y along
the z-direction at f = 31 GHz for (a) forward and (b) reverse directions of
propagation.
observed wavelength is almost equal to the one calculated from
the mode’s phase constant at the same frequency.
When the input port is 2, modal analysis shows that only
one mode is propagating at f = 31 GHz, which is HE11− .
This mode has a phase constant of 568 rad m−1 , which
results into a wavelength of 11 mm. Inspecting Fig. 5(b)
confirms this prediction by showing one mode propagating
with a wavelength very close to the above-mentioned value.
The distribution of E y along the y-direction also confirms the
existence of the EH11− mode, since it resembles the calculated
field distribution shown in Fig. 3(d).
IV. M EASUREMENT R ESULTS
The gyroelectric isolators were realized by loading a
25-mm-long WR-28 waveguide with 0.85-mm-thick InSb
slabs of different lengths (ls ). These slabs were made from
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JAWAD et al.: MILLIMETER-WAVE GYROELECTRIC WAVEGUIDE ISOLATOR
Fig. 6. Photograph of the measurement setup for the gyroelectric loaded
waveguides.
Fig. 7. Photograph of the measurement equipment connected to the test
fixture.
the same InSb wafer characterized in [17]. The waveguide
was connected to a vector network analyzer (VNA) via two
waveguide to coaxial adapters. Thru-reflect-line calibration
procedure is applied to bring the reference planes to the
ends of the loaded waveguide section. To obtain the desired
performance from the device, it was cooled down to 77 K
by immersing the structure into liquid nitrogen (LN2 ) during
the measurements. Magnetic bias was provided using an
electromagnet, as shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 7 shows the mea-
surement equipment (Keysight 8510C VNA) connected to the
test fixture between the electromagnet’s poles via two coaxial
cables. Using the developed algorithm, nonreciprocity in the
EH11+ mode when B0 = 0.8 T and Ts = 0.85 mm was
5
Fig. 8. Measured transmission parameters and calculated EH11+ mode
attenuation for a WR-28 waveguide loaded with InSb slabs of different lengths
at 77 K with B0 = 0.8 T. (a) S12 . (b) S21 , and the attenuation constant.
expected to occur at f = 37.5 GHz. Fig. 8 shows the measured
transmission parameters for different values of ls . Calculated
attenuation constant for the EH11+ mode is plotted against S21 .
It is clear from the measured results that high isolation is
obtained within the same frequency range at which there is
high attenuation in the EH11+ mode. It can also be noted from
Fig. 8(a) that the insertion loss increases with the length of
the slab (ls ).
The shift in the isolation frequency with ls noted in Fig. 8
is attributed to the interferences between the two modes
existing for forward direction (when the input port is 1). Such
interferences cause S21 to have different points of maximum
isolation depending on the length of the slab. However, as seen
in Fig. 8(b), shorter slabs tend to have the frequency of
maximum isolation closer to that of maximum calculated
attenuation (α+ ).
For the InSb slab with ls = 4 mm, measurements show
that 27.5-dB isolation is obtained with 1-dB insertion loss at
f = 37.5 GHz. Measured reflection coefficients (S11,22 ) for
this case do not exceed −12 dB, as shown in Fig. 9. These
values could be further improved by tapering the slab’s two
ends to enhance the matching.
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6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES
Fig. 9. Measured reflection coefficients for a WR-28 waveguide loaded with
an InSb slab of ls = 4 mm at 77 K.
Fig. 10. Unwrapped measured insertion phase of the 4-mm-long InSb loaded
waveguide section at 77 K for both directions of propagation with the phase
constant of the EH11+ mode (β+ ).
The insertion phase of the transmission parameters was also
measured and compared with the calculated phase constant of
the EH11+ mode (β+ ), as shown in Fig. 10. The results show
that an increase in the measured phase of S21 occurs at the
same frequency at which the calculated phase constant of the
EH11+ mode (β+ ) decreases.
Using the developed algorithm, it was possible to conclude
that decreasing the magnetic bias (B0 ) causes the region of
high attenuation in the HE11+ mode to shift up in frequency.
Fig. 11(b) shows the calculated attenuation constants (α+ )
alongside with the transmission parameter (S21 ) for a WR-28
waveguide loaded with an InSb slab at 77 K of Ts = 0.85 mm
and ls = 4 mm for different values of magnetic bias (B0 ).
Measured results show that the frequency of isolation shifts
up in accordance to the calculated shift in the attenuation
constant. Insertion loss shown in Fig. 11(a) is almost the same
(≈1 dB) at the frequency of isolation for all the cases.
Results in Fig. 11 imply that it is not possible to obtain
isolation below 40 GHz using this arrangement with a mag-
netic bias (B0 ) of less than 0.6 T. However, theoretical analysis
shows that topping the gyroelectric slab with a dielectric layer
of thickness (Td ) and dielectric constant (d ) shifts down the
region of high attenuation in the EH11+ mode. Hence, isolation
resulting from lower values of B0 can be shifted down in
Fig. 11. Measured transmission parameters and calculated EH11+ mode
attenuation for a WR-28 waveguide loaded with InSb slabs of ls = 4 mm
at 77 K with different values of B0 . (a) S12 . (b) S21 , and the attenuation
constants.
frequency by adding a dielectric layer above the InSb slab.
To verify this, dielectric layers of d = 3.55 and different
thicknesses were placed on top of an InSb slab of ls = 8 mm
and Ts = 0.85 mm, biased with B0 = 0.65 T. Measured results
confirm theoretical calculations by showing that the frequency
of isolation shifts down as Td increases, as shown in Fig. 12.
However, significant increases in both insertion and reflection
losses due to the increase in the thickness of the waveguide’s
filling, in addition to the effects of the dielectric loss.
The observed behavior so far originates from the extraordi-
nary waves resulting from magnetically biasing a semiconduc-
tor normal to the direction of the electric field and the direction
of propagation [19]. The propagation of such wave depends on
the sign of a quantity called the effective permittivity, which
is related to the permittivity tensor elements in (1) as
ε2 − κ 2
eff = . (12)
ε
The behavior of eff with frequency shown in Fig. 13
indicates a discontinuity at f = fr , which is called the
extraordinary wave resonance frequency. The propagation of
an extraordinary wave is possible for positive eff , i.e., for
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JAWAD et al.: MILLIMETER-WAVE GYROELECTRIC WAVEGUIDE ISOLATOR 7

Fig. 14. Simulated scattering parameters for a 10-mm-long WR-08

waveguide loaded with an InSb slab at 77 K with ls = 1.5 mm and
Ts = 0.2 mm and biased in the x-direction with B0 = 0.27 T.

Here, f c and f p are the cyclotron and plasma frequencies,

respectively. For a fixed plasma frequency, (13) indicates that
f A is inversely proportional to f c (and hence, B0 ). Therefore,
lower values of B0 allow the design of gyroelectric com-
ponents at higher frequencies. This advantage will enhance
the possibility of obtaining isolation in the millimeter and
submillimeter wave frequency ranges using relatively modest
values of magnetic bias [22].
Using the same InSb at 77 K, theoretical analysis shows
that high nonreciprocal attenuation is obtained at 105 GHz
by loading a WR-08 waveguide (a = 2.32 mm and
b = 1.02 mm) with a slab of InSb with Ts = 0.2 mm and
biased with B0 = 0.27 T. The structure was simulated using
a slab of ls = 1.5 mm. Simulation results in Fig. 14 show a
differential isolation of 33.8 dB with 1.16-dB insertion loss at
Fig. 12. Measured transmission parameters and calculated EH11+ mode f = 105 GHz. Reflection for the whole frequency of interest
attenuation for a WR-28 waveguide loaded with InSb slabs of ls = 8 mm at
77 K and biased with B0 = 0.65 T topped with dielectric layers of d = 3.55 does not exceed −10 dB. Despite the effects of higher modes
and different thicknesses. (a) S12 . (b) S21 , and the attenuation constants. for f > 115 GHz, these preliminary results demonstrate the
possibility of realizing high-frequency waveguide isolators of
small size with low magnetic bias requirements.
The isolators reported in this paper show limited 10-dB
bandwidth of 2–3 GHz around the frequency of isolation
(6%–8%). However, broadband isolation is possible by excit-
ing the nonreciprocal attenuation at different frequencies
by loading the waveguide with cascaded slabs of different
properties.
V. C ONCLUSION
This paper has demonstrated the possibility of exploiting the
gyroelectric behavior in magnetized semiconductors to design
tunable waveguide isolators. After developing a complete ana-
lytical model, it was possible to find the complex propagation
Fig. 13. Behavior of the effective permittivity (eff ) with frequency.
constants of all the modes propagating through a waveguide
partially filled with stratified dielectric and gyroelectric layers.
f A ≤ f ≤ fr and f ≥ f B . Gyroelectric components are Hybrid modes with nonreciprocal attenuation and phase con-
usually designed at the frequencies of positive eff and near stants were found to be propagating in a rectangular waveguide
f A [10], [17], [20], where [21] partially loaded with a transversely magnetized InSb slab
⎡ ⎤ at 77 K aligned parallel to the H -plane. These propagating
4 f p2 modes and their field distributions were verified by simulating
fc ⎣
fA = 1+ − 1⎦. (13) a similar structure using a commercial 3-D electromagnetic
2 r f c2 simulation package.
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8 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES
Theoretical and simulation results were then verified by
measuring the scattering parameters of a WR-28 waveguide
loaded with different InSb slabs at 77 K. More than 20-dB
isolation with less than 1-dB insertion loss was obtained at
the same frequency range of the calculated high nonreciprocal
attenuation. The effects of changing the magnetic bias (B0 )
and topping the InSb slab with dielectric layers were also
verified via measurements, and results agreed to high degree
with theoretical expectations.
To demonstrate the possibility of designing isolators at
higher frequencies, an isolator working at 105 GHz was
designed using a smaller InSb slab at 77 K biased with 0.27 T.
Simulation results show more than 33-dB isolation with
1.16-dB insertion loss.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
G. N. Jawad would like to thank the Iraqi Ministry of Higher
Education and Scientific Research for sponsoring his Ph.D.
studies.
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[1] J. D. Adam, L. E. Davis, G. F. Dionne, E. F. Schloemann, and
S. N. Stitzer, “Ferrite devices and materials,” IEEE Trans. Microw.
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Ghassan N. Jawad (S’13–M’16) was born in
Baghdad, Iraq, in 1984. He received the B.Sc.
and M.Sc. degrees in electronics and communica-
tion engineering from the University of Baghdad,
Baghdad, in 2005 and 2009, respectively.
From 2006 to 2009, he was with Orascom Telecom
Iraq (Zain Iraq later), as a Network Switching Engi-
neer, and from 2009 to 2013, he was an Assistant
Lecturer with the Department of Electronics and
Communication, University of Baghdad, where he
was a Department Administrator, from 2010 to 2013.
He is currently a Research Student with the University of Manchester,
Manchester, U.K. His current research interests include millimetre-wave
non-reciprocal devices, gyrotropic microwave devices, and microwave non-
destructive testing techniques.
Dr. Jawad is a Committee Member of the University’s IEEE Student Branch
and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society chapter and a Fellow
of The University of Manchester Intellectual Property for 2014/2015.
Christopher I. Duff (M’02) received the M.Eng.
degree in electronic engineering from The University
of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology,
Manchester, U.K., in 2000, and the Ph.D. degree
from The University of Manchester, Manchester,
in 2005.
He was with Roke Manor Research, U.K., Creo
Medical, U.K., and EADS Astrium, U.K. He is
currently a Co-Founder of Microwave Inspection
Technologies Ltd., and also a Lecturer with the
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
The University of Manchester. His current research interests include semi-
conductor device modeling, microwave and millimeter-wave nondestructive
test/evaluation, and RF/microwave design for medical applications.
Robin Sloan (M’92–SM’05) received the B.Sc.
degree in electronic engineering from Sussex Uni-
versity, Brighton, U.K., in 1985, and the M.Sc. and
Ph.D. degrees from the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST),
Manchester, U.K., in 1988 and 1991, respectively.
He has held a number of microwave electronic
engineering appointments, including the British
Aerospace Air Weapons Division, Hatfield, U.K.,
Milmega Ltd., Ryde, U.K., and Ferranti Interna-
tional, Poynton, U.K. In 1994, he was appointed
as a Lecturer at UMIST, that subsequently became the School of Electrical
and Electronic Engineering in The University of Manchester, Manchester.
He was promoted to Professor in millimeter-wave electronics in 2016.
He was instrumental in setting up the Agilent Millimeter Wave Laboratory at
Manchester in 2004. He is currently a Co-Founder of Microwave Inspection
Technologies Ltd. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow with Keysight
Technologies Inc., Santa Rosa, CA, USA, since 2007. His current research
interests include millimeter-wave electronics, device characterization, on-
wafer calibration techniques, electromagnetics, and microwave NDT.
Dr. Sloan is a Fellow of the IET and a member of the British Insitute of
NDT. He was a recipient of the Royal Society Industrial Fellowship. He is
currently an Associate Editor of IET Microwaves, Antennas, and Propagation.