Edmund Li

WAVEGUIDES
Waveguiding structures are called waveguides and may consist of a single conductor. Transmission lines
tend to guide TEM waves using two or more conductors waves with no field component in the direction
of the propagation. However, waveguides also support propagation of:

Transverse Electric with a longitudinal magnetic field component

the direction of propagation,
. They are also known as H waves.

but no electric field in

Transverse Magnetic with a longitudinal electric field component

component,
. They are also known as E waves

, but no magnetic field

Both TE and TM modes have

characteristic cutoff frequencies below
which waves cannot propagate, and
hence power and signal transmission at
those modes is not possible. Thus
waveguides operating in TE and TM
modes are like high pass filters and
only certain patterns of electric and
magnetic fields (modes) can exist for
propagating waves.
In the next part we shall see that these
modes must be solutions to the
governing wave equation while
satisfying
appropriate
boundary
conditions for the fields.

G ENERAL S OLUTIONS FOR A RBITRARY WAVEGUIDE

Consider an arbitrary transmission line (waveguide) as shown above situated along the z-direction. We
assume that the fields are time harmonic fields with an

dependence. The electric and magnetic fields

can thus be written as the sum of transverse field components

components
and
:

and longitudinal

Which satisfy the source free Maxwells equations:

We then expand the curl operator of the source free Maxwells equations in rectangular coordinates the
derive the derivatives of the transverse field components with respect to z:

Edmund Li

We also note from our definition of the electric fields that:

Then the original curl expansion will yield us:

Similarly with the magnetic field:

We then solve the above equations for

and

With (2a) and (1b):

Similarly:

Where we define

a the cutoff wavenumber:

wavenumber of the material filling the waveguide is

. We also note that the

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To summarise, the following equations of transverse field components are valid for all modes defined
previously:

TEM W AVES
TEM waves are characterized by the lack of longitudinal components
. We find that
the transverse fields of a TEM mode are non zero only when
. Substitution into:

We get:

This indicates that the phase constant of the TEM mode on the guiding structure is equivalent to
the phase constant of a plane wave propagating in a region characterized by the same medium
between the conductors of t he guiding structure. Furthermore, the TEM modes can be
propagated at any non zero frequency since
.

We also define the wave impedance of TEM waves from equation (1b) and (2a)

Edmund Li

Combining the two previous results gives us:

We also note that if we consider the Helmholtz wave equation where

and

Then after calculations using the Laplacian operator and noting that

Which can be expressed in a simpler form where

then:

is the Laplacian operator for two

transverse direction:

The above equations indicate that the transverse electric and magnetic fields satisfy Laplaces equation
with boundary conditions defined by the conductor geometry of the guiding structure.
It should be noted that single conductor waveguides cannot support TEM waves since there are no closed
loops of magnetic field lines in any transverse plane nor longitudinal conduction current .

Edmund Li

T RANSVERSE E LECTRIC
In transverse electric waves,
and can be supported inside closed conductors and two or more
conductors. Substitution into the general solutions for the four transverse field components yields:

In this case
and the propagation constant is given by the relationship
yield bounded solutions for the transverse field components of TE modes.
From the wave equation

Since

in order to

we find:

then:

This equation represents a reduced Helmholtz equation which can be solved for
based on the
boundary conditions of the guiding structure geometry. From the boxed equations we also find that:

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T RANSVERSE M AGNETIC W AVES

Starting again with the general solutions of transverse waves:

And noting that

will reduce the solutions to:

Again the cutoff wavenumber must be nonzero to yield bounded solutions for the transverse field
component of TM modes so that we must operate the guiding structure above the corresponding cutoff
frequency for the particular TM mode to propagate. The longitudinal field component
must satisfy the
wave equation so that:

Since the guided wave electric field is

then:

The above reduced Helmholtz equation can be solved for

based on the boundary conditions of
the guiding structure geometry. Once
is found, the longitudinal magnetic field is known and all of
the transverse field components are found by evaluating the above derivates.
The wave impedance for TM modes is found as:

Edmund Li

A NALYSIS OF TE AND TM W AVEGUIDES

In the next section we shall present the analysis for TE and TM waveguides by following the given
procedures:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Solve the reduced Helmholtz equation for

or which will contain unknown constants
including the unknown
Find the transverse fields from or
Apply boundary conditions to appropriate field components to find the cutoff wavenumber and
unknown constants
Find:

R ECTANGULAR W AVEGUIDES
The rectangular waveguide can support either TE or
TM modes. The rectangular cross section (a>b) allows
for single mode operation one mode propagates in
the waveguide over a given frequency range.

TE M ODE
The longitudinal magnetic field of the TE modes within
the rectangular waveguide satisfy:
1.

Solve Helmholtz equation

From this the reduced wave equation is:

With the longitudinal component:

Let,

. Using method of separation of variables:

The partial derivates become derivates since each term is independent of each other so:

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2.

Transverse Field

3.

Boundary conditions

The TE boundary conditions are the walls of the waveguide:

From the general TE equations:

The application of the boundary conditions yields:

Thus, the final solution for

is:

is an arbitrary amplitude constant composed of constants A and C

The four transverse field components for the

substituting

into the general solutions:

propagation mode can then be found from

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4.

Find other constants and values including the cut off frequency and propagation constant and
wave impedance

Since:

Where

is the intrinsic impedance of the filling material. The guide wavelength is:

And phase velocity is:

The notion of dominant mode refers to the propagation mode with the lowest cutoff frequency for any of
the rectangular waveguide modes; in this case it is
since we chose a>b. This implies that
will
not exist as all the field components are zero. When
, is imaginary and hence the wave will decay
exponentially and will not propagate.

Edmund Li

TM MODE
The longitudinal electric field of the TM modes within the rectangular waveguide must satisfy the wave
equation

. Expansion and simplification leads to:

With

. By a similar nature to the TE mode then:

Applying the boundary conditions:

Which gives us:

This allows us to substitute back into the four transverse equations yielding:

Just like in the TE mode we have:

Which is real for the propagating mode but imaginary for the evanescent mode. The cut-off frequency is:

While the guide wavelength and phase velocity are:

Edmund Li

We summarise the information for empty rectangular waveguides:

Parameter

Parameter

Example
Determine the wave impedance and guide wavelength at a frequency equal to twice the cutoff frequency,
in a waveguide for TM and TE modes.

Edmund Li
Example
In AM, the sum of signal frequencies and carrier frequency

forms an envelope representing the signal

information. The carrier signal exhibits a phase velocity of

group velocity

while the envelope propagates at the

. Determine the group velocity for a given mode in an air filled rectangular

waveguide.

In an air filled rectangular waveguide, the speed

thus:

Note that while the phase velocity within the air filled waveguide can be greater than the speed of light,
the envelope travels at the group velocity less than the speed of light.
Example
Consider a rectangular waveguide with dimensions 1cm X 0.5 cm.
a) What are the cut off frequencies for the first 5 modes?
b) If the waveguide is excited at 20 Ghz, what are the propagation constants for the first five modes
c) If the waveguide is excited at 50 Ghz, how many modes will propagate?
a)

Recall that

, hence:

Now non-magnetic materials we shall treat

For convenience we also assume that

For m=0, n=0,
For m=1, n=0,
For m=0, n=1,
For m=1, n=1,
For m=2, n=0,
For m=2, n=1,
For m=0, n=2,
For m=1, n=2,

, so we can express the cut off frequency as:

, hence this will become an air filled waveguide

there is no mode

Edmund Li

Example

Mode
TE
TE
TE
TE
TM

m
1
0
2
1
1

n
0
1
0
1
1

15
30
30
33.54
33.54

b) Given that

, with

. Using

the first five modes of propagation as above:

c)

Now we have

. In order for propagation to occur, we must have:

We find that:

There are thus 8 possible modes of propagation.

Edmund Li
Example
Write the general instantaneous field expressions for TM and TE modes and deduce those for
modes.
For

With
For

Example
In a rectangular waveguide for which a=1.5 cm, b=0.8cm

Determine:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

The mode of operation

The cut-off frequency
The phase constant
The complex Propagation constant
The instrinsic wave impedance .

and

Edmund Li
a)

Given that we have a time dependent function for

obtained from
comparison with the solutions for rectangular waveguides yields either a
b) Suppose we operate in a
mode:

Instead, if we consider a
c)

, then
mode

mode, the same cutoff frequency is found.

The phase constant is:

Where

d) The propagation constant is purely imaginary:

e)

Example
Consider a standard waveguide with a=8cm b=4cm and air dielectric.
a) What wave modes can propagate along this waveguide at
b) What is the dominant frequency range of the waveguide?

a)

note that

All other modes have cutoff frequencies higher than the operational frequency.
b) The dominant range in which one wave mode only can propagate (mode TE10) is given by

Edmund Li
Example
A rectangular air filled waveguide has a cross section 90mm X 25 mm. Find
a)
b)
c)
d)

Cutoff wavelength for the dominant mode

The relative phase velocity (v/c) in guide at 1.6 times the cutoff frequency
The cutoff wavelength if the guide is filled with dielectric of
The relative phase velocity in guide with dielectric at 1.6 times the cutoff frequency

a)
Or use:
b)

Note that
c)
Or use
d)

Example
Standard air filled waveguides have been designed for radar bands. One type, designated WG-16 is
suitable for X band applications and its dimensions are a=2.29 cm and b=1.02 cm. If it is desired that a
WG-16 waveguide only to operate in
mode and that the operating frequency be at least 25% above
the cutoff frequency of
mode but no higher than 95% of the next higher cutoff frequency, determine
the allowable operating frequency range.
The two modes having the lowest cutoff frequencies are TE10 and TE20. We thus find:

Thus the operating range is: