ELC325 Electromagnetic Waves

Chapter 4
Rectangular and Circular Waveguides

Dr. Hany Mahmoud Zamel

Electronics Research Institute (ERI)

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Course Description (ELC325 Electromagnetic Waves)
Guided waves: Waves between two conducting parallel plates, TE
and TM waves and their characteristics, Velocities of propagation,
Attenuation and quality Factor, Wave impedance, Basic closed
waveguides: TE and TM waves and their characteristics in
rectangular waveguides, Wave solution in cylindrical coordinates,
TE and TM waves in circular waveguides, Attenuation and quality
factor of the waveguide, Dielectric planar waveguides, Optical
fiber.

Course Site https://obinst2023.wixsite.com/obour

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Grade Distribution

Semester work 20

Quizzes 20

Mid-term examination 40

Final-term examination 120

Total 200

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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide
• The geometry a rectangular wave guide is shown in Fig. 4.11.
• It is assumed that the guide is filled with a material of permittivity  and
permeability .
• It is standard convention to have the longest side of the waveguide along the x-
axis, so that a > b.
• The TM modes are characterized by the fields with Hz = 0, while Ez
described by equation (4.1) must satisfy the reduced wave equation (4.19):
 2 2 
 2 + 2 + kc2 ez ( x, y ) = 0
 x y (4.52)

where E z ( x , y , z ) = e z ( x , y ) e − j z
and kc2 = k 2 −  2 Is the cutoff wave number
• The partial differential equation (4.52) can be solved
by the method of separation of variables exactly as
in the TE wave, by letting:
ez ( x, y ) = X ( x)Y ( y ) (4.53) Fig. 4.11 Geometry of a
• X(x) = is a function of the x coordinate only rectangular waveguide.
• Y(y) = is a function of the y coordinate only
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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
• By substituting (4.53) into (4.52) to obtain:
d2X d 2Y
Y 2
+ X 2
+ k c XY = 0
2
(4.54)
dx dy
Divide both sides of (4.54) by XY, we get
1 d2X 1 d 2Y
2
+ 2
+ k 2
c =0 (4.55)
X dx Y dy
• Then solve by the usual separation of variable arguments. Since the sum of
the two terms of the left hand side of (4.55) is a constant and each term
is independently variable, it follows that each term must be a constant.
• So we define separation constants kx and ky such that:
kc2 = k x2 + k y2 (4.56)
• Thus (4.55) can be separated into two equations as follows:
d2X
2
+ k x X = 0
2
(4.57)
dx
d 2Y (4.58)
2
+ k yY = 0
2

dy
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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
• The general solution of these equations (4.57) and (4.58) are in the form:

X = A cos (k x x) + B sin (k x x) (4.59)

Y = C cos(k y y) + D sin (k y y) (4.60)

• The total solution of the Helmholtz equation in rectangular

coordinates for ez can be then written as: (4.61)

ez ( x, y) = [ A cos (k x x) + B sin (k x x)][C cos(k y y) + D sin (k y y)]

The final solution for Ez is then given by:

mx ny − jz

E z ( x, y, z ) = Bmn sin( ) sin( )e
a b

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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
• The transverse field components of the TMmn mode can be found terms of Ez,
we obtain:
− jm mx ny − jz
E x ( x, y , z ) = 2
Bmn cos( ) sin( )e (4.66)
kc a a b
− j  n mx ny − jz
E y ( x, y , z ) = 2
Bmn sin( ) cos( )e (4.67)
kc b a b
jn mx ny − jz
H x ( x, y , z ) = 2
Bmn sin( ) cos( )e (4.68)
kc b a b
− jm mx ny − jz
H y ( x, y , z ) = 2
Bmn cos( ) sin( )e (4.69)
kc a a b
• As for TE the propagation constant  is given by:

  m 
2
 n 
2

 = k − kc =   − kc =   − 
2 2 2 2 2
 +   (4.70)
 a   b  
• Which is seen to be real when:
k  kc
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 4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
• As for TE there are three cases for the propagation constant  in the waveguide:
Case 1:  = 0
• At a particular frequency c the value of  = 0 and there will be no wave
propagation (evanescence) in the guide, in this case.
K = Kc or c2  = kc2
• This is the critical condition for cutoff.
• Each mode (combination of m and n) thus has a cutoff frequency fc. The cutoff
frequency for the TMmn modes is expressed as:
 m  2  n  2  1  m   n  
2 2

  =   +    (2f ) =   +  
2 2

 a   b     a   b  

 m   n 
2 2
kc 1
f cmn = =   +  (4.71)
2   2    a   b 
• The cutoff frequency fc for the TMmn modes (4.71) is the same as that for the
TEmn modes (4.42).
• The guide wavelength and phase velocity for the TM modes are the same as
those for the TE modes.
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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
Case 2:  > 0
• The wave will be propagating in the waveguide, in this case.
K  Kc or c2   kc2
• And  is expressed as:
2
 m   n   f cm n 
2 2

=   − 
2
 +  =   1 −   (4.72)
 a   b   f 
• This means that the operating frequency must be above the cutoff frequency in
order to a wave to propagate in the guide.
• This is the pass-band of the waveguide. Within the pass-band the wave
parameters are explained as follows:

Wave Parameters
1. The phase velocity vp is the velocity of a point of constant phase or
t - z = constant and
dz  1 VDielectric
vp = = = =
dt   fc 
2
 f cmn 
2 (4.73a)
  1 −   1 −  
 f   f 
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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
Wave Parameters
where fcmn is cutoff frequency and CDieclectric is the wave velocity in the dielectric
with permeability  and permittivity .
• The group velocity vg is the velocity is at which the energy consisting of a
frequency region of the spectrum propagates:
2
d 1  f cm n 
vg = = = C Dielctric 1 −   (4.73b)
d d / d  f 
2 Dielectric
2. The wavelength  is: = = (4.74a)
  fc 
2

1 −  m n 
 f 
Another expression for the critical wavelength is as follows: kc2 = k x2 + k y2
2
 2   2m  2  2n  2 2
  = + c =
  a   b 
and (4.74c)
 c mn 2 2
 mn  m n
  + 
 a  b
From (4.71) and (4.74b), the mode characteristics for rectangular waveguide c
and fc can be drawn in a figure similar to that shown in Fig. 4.9.
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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
3. The wave impedance (4.20):
E − Ey  
ZTM = x = = =
Hy Hx  k (4.75a)
2
Substitute by , the wave f  
   1 −  c 

2
impedance is given by: f f 
ZTM = =  /  1 −  c  (4.75b)
  f
Case 3:  < 0
• No propagation will take place, in this case. K  Kc or c2   kc2
• And  is expressed as:
 
2
   f cmn 
2 2
 m   n 
 =   −   +   = j    − 1 (4.76)
2

 a   b    f 
• Which is pure imaginary. This means that if the operating frequency is below
the cutoff frequency, the wave will decay exponentially with respect to a factor
of -z and there will be no wave propagation.
• The propagation constant in this case is pure imaginary, which is an
attenuation factor.
• This case is in fact the case of the band-stop range for the waveguide.
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 4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)

• Observe that the expressions for E and H (4.56)-(4.59) are identically zero if
either m = 0 or n = 0.

• Thus there is no TM00 , TM01, or TM10 modes.

• The lowest cutoff frequency is called the dominant mode, since we have
assumed the a > b, the lowest order TM to propagate fc occurs for the TM11
(m=1, n=1) mode, having a cutoff frequency of:

   
2 2
1
f c11 =   +  (4.77)
2  a b

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4.6 TM Modes in Rectangular Waveguide (Continued)
• When m = 1 and n = 1, the field components of the TM11 mode can be
found using (4.66) to (4.69) as:
x y
Ez ( x, y, z ) = B11 sin( ) sin( )e − jz (4.78a)
a b
− j x y − jz
E x ( x, y , z ) = 2
B11 cos( ) sin( )e (4.78b)
kc a a b
− j x y
E y ( x, y, z ) = 2 B11 sin( ) cos( )e − jz (4.78c)
kc b a b
j x y − jz
H x ( x, y , z ) = 2
B11 sin( ) cos( )e (4.79a)
k b c a b
− j x y − jz
H y ( x, y , z ) = 2
B11 cos( ) sin( )e (4.79b)
kc a a b
H z ( x, y , z ) = 0
• The propagation constant  for TM11 is given by:
   
2
  
2

 = k − kc =   −   +   
2 2 2
(4.80)
 a   b  
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Assignment

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Assignment (Continued)

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4.7 CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE
A hollow, round metal pipe also supports TE and TM waveguide
modes. Figure 4.12 shows the geometry of such a circular
waveguide, with inner radius a. Because cylindrical geometry is
involved, it is appropriate to employ cylindrical coordinates.

Fig. 4.12
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4.7 CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE (Continued)
The transverse fields in cylindrical coordinates can be derived
from Ez or Hz field components for TM and TE modes,
respectively. We can derive the cylindrical components of the
transverse fields from the longitudinal components as

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4.7.1 TE Modes of CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE (Continued)

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4.7.1 TE Modes of CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE (Continued)

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4.7.2 TM Modes of CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE (Continued)

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4.7.2 TM Modes of CIRCULAR WAVEGUIDE (Continued)

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4.7.3 Summary of Results for Circular Waveguide

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Example 1

Find the cutoff frequencies of the first two propagating modes of

a Teflon-filled circular waveguide with a = 0.5 cm. If the interior
of the guide is gold plated, calculate the dielectric loss in dB for a
30 cm length operating at 14 GHz.
Solution
The first two propagating modes of a circular waveguide are the
𝑻𝑬𝟏𝟏 and 𝑻𝑴𝟎𝟏 modes. The cutoff frequencies can be found :

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Example 1 (Continued)

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Example 1 (Continued)
The attenuation due to conductor loss is

Attenuation (dB) = α(dB/m) × L (m) = (2.07) × (0.3) = 0.62 dB

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