BABINET’S PRINCIPLE

• Now that wire and aperture antennas have been

analyzed, one may inquire as to whether there is
any relationship between them.
• This can be answered better by first introducing
Babinet’s principle which in optics states that when
the field behind a screen with an opening is added
to the field of a complementary structure, the sum
is equal to the field when there is no screen.
• Babinet’s principle in optics does not consider
polarization, which is so vital in antenna theory;
it deals primarily with absorbing screens.
• An extension of Babinet’s principle, which includes
polarization and the more practical conducting
screens, was introduced by Booker [13], [14].
• Referring to Figure 12.22(a), let us assume that an
electric source J radiates into an unbounded
medium of intrinsic impedance η = (µ/)1/2 and
produces at point P the fields E0 , H0 .
Figure 12.22 Electric source in an
unbounded medium and Babinet’s principle
equivalents.
• The same fields can be obtained by combining the
fields when the electric source radiates in a
medium with intrinsic impedance η = (µ/)1/2 in the
presence of
•
• 1. an infinite, planar, very thin, perfect electric
conductor with an opening Sa , which produces at P
the fields Ee , He [Figure 12.22(b)]
• 2. a flat, very thin, perfect magnetic conductor Sa ,
which produces at P the fields Em , Hm [Figure
12.22(c)].
• That is,
• The field produced by the source in Figure 12.22(a) can also be
obtained by combining the fields of

• 1. an electric source J radiating in a medium with intrinsic

impedance η = (µ/)1/2 in the presence of an infinite, planar, very
thin, perfect electric conductor Sa , which produces at P the
fields Ee , He [Figure 12.22(b)]
• 2. a magnetic source M radiating in a medium with intrinsic
impedance ηd = ( /µ)1/2 in the presence of a flat, very thin,
perfect electric conductor Sa , which produces at P the fields Ed ,
Hd [Figure 12.22(d)]
• That is,
• The dual of Figure 12.22(d) is more easily realized in
practice than that of Figure 12.22(c).
• To obtain Figure 12.22(d) from Figure 12.22(c), J is replaced by
M, Em by Hd , Hm by −Ed , by µ, and µ by .
• This is a form of duality often used in electromagnetics (see
Section 3.7, Table 3.2).
• The electric screen with the opening in Figure 12.22(b) and the
electric conductor of Figure 12.22(d) are also dual.
• They are usually referred to as complementary structures,
because when combined they form a single solid screen with no
overlaps.
• Using Booker’s extension it can be shown [13], [14]
by referring to Figure 12.23,
• that if a screen and its complement are
immersed in a medium with an intrinsic
impedance η and have terminal impedances of Zs
and Zc , respectively, the impedances are related by
Figure 12.23 Opening on a screen
and its complementary dipole.
• To obtain the impedance Zc of the complement
(dipole) in a practical arrangement, a gap must be
introduced to represent the feed points.
• In addition, the far-zone fields radiated by the
opening on the screen (Eθs , Eφs , Hθs , Hφs ) are
related to the far-zone fields of the complement
(Eθc , Eφc , Hθc , Hφc ) by
• Infinite, flat, very thin conductors are not realizable in
practice but can be closely approximated. If a slot is cut
into a plane conductor that is large compared to the
wavelength and the dimensions of the slot, the
behavior predicted by Babinet’s principle can be
realized to a high degree.
• The impedance properties of the slot may not be
affected as much by the finite dimensions of the plane
as would be its pattern.
• The slot of Figure 12.23(a) will also radiate on both
sides of the screen.
• Unidirectional radiation can be obtained by placing a
backing (box or cavity) behind the slot, forming a so-
called cavity-backed slot whose radiation properties
(impedance and pattern) are determined by the
dimensions of the cavity.
• To demonstrate the application of Babinet’s principle,
an example is considered.
Example
• A very thin half-wavelength slot is cut on an infinite,
planar, very thin, perfectly conducting electric screen as
shown in Figure 12.24(a). Find its input impedance.
Assume it is radiating into free-space.
• Solution: From Babinet’s principle and its extension
we know that a very thin half- wavelength dipole,
shown in Figure 12.24(b), is the complementary
structure to the slot. From Chapter 4, the terminal
(input) impedance of the dipole is Zc = 73 + j 42.5.
Figure 12.24 Half-wavelength thin
slot on an electric screen and its
complement.
• Thus the terminal (input) impedance of the slot,
using (12-67), is given by
Figure 12.25 Radiation fields of a λ/2 slot on a
screen and of a λ/2 flat dipole. (SOURCE: J. D. Kraus,
Antennas, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1988, Chapter 13)
• The slot of Figure 12.24(a) can be made to resonate by
choosing the dimensions of its complement (dipole) so
that it is also resonant.
• The pattern of the slot is identical in shape to that of
the dipole except that the E- and H-fields are
interchanged.
• When a vertical slot is mounted on a vertical screen, as
shown in Figure 12.25(a), its electric field is horizontally
polarized while that of the dipole is vertically polarized
[Fig. 12.25(b)].
• Changing the angular orientation of the slot or screen
will change the polarization.
• The slot antenna, as a cavity-backed design, has been
utilized in a variety of law enforcement applications. Its
main advantage is that it can be fabricated and
concealed within metallic objects, and with a small
transmitter it can provide covert communications.
• There are various methods of feeding a slot antenna
[15].
• For proper operation, the cavity depth must be equal to
odd multiples of λg /4, where λg is the guide
wavelength.