'risD Ir::::::]l I tf I

Wa'.
guide -- -- £:
.@
0
--
0

impedance
circuit
Eau;,al.nt I (0)
L

(b)
Q (c)
0
tL
TC
(d)
0

Fig. 6.23 Waveguide irises.

An inductive iris (Fig. 6.23a) allows a current to flow where none
flowed before. The iris is placed in a position where the magnetic field
is strong ( or where electric field is relatively weak). Since the plane of
polarisation of electric field is parallel to the plane of iris, the current
flow due to iris causes a magnetic field to be set up. Energy storage of
magnetic field takes place and there is an increase in inductance at that
point of the waveguide.
In capacitive iris (Fig. 6.23b), it is seen that the potential which
existed between the top and bottom walls of the waveguide now exists
between surfaces which are closer and therefore the capacitance has
increased at that point. The capacitive iris is placed in a position where
the electric field is strong.
The inductive and capacitive irises if combined suitably (correctly
shaped and positioned) the inductive and capacitive reactances
introduced will be equal and the iris becomes a parallel resonant circuit
(Fig. 6.23c). For the dominant mode, the iris presents a high impedance
ancl..the-shunting effect for this mode will be negligible. Other modes
are completely attenuated and the resonant iris acts as a band pass filter
to suppress unwanted modes.
Figure 6.23d, shows a series resonant iris which is supported by a
non-metallic material and is transparent to the flow of microwave
energy .
6.8 POSTS AND TUNING SCREWS
When a metallic cylindrical post is introduced into the broader side of
waveguide, it produces the same effect as an iris in providing lumped
!. reactance at that point. If the post extends only a short distance
< A.g/4) into the waveguide, it behaves capacitively (Fig. 6.24a), and this
capacitive susceptance increases with depth of penetration. When the
epth is equal to 'A.g/4, the post acts as a series resonant circuit (Fig.

~ .24b), if it is > A.g/4, the post behaves inductively (Fig. 6.24c) and this
i ductive susceptance decreases when the post is moved further away
from the centre ofthe waveguide. When the post is extended completely
across the waveguide, the post becomes inductive (Fig. 6.24d). The
susceptance vs penetration (h) characteristics is.shown in Fig. 6.25.

Post Post
I
<~-mn
4 LJ
_m o---Lo
,I

ir!] - I
(0) (b)

Post Post
I I
>ii!!] -
(c)
I [IJ-I (d)

F~g. 6.24 Waveguide posts.

<I>

II
(f)

IIg/4
--h
Fig. 6.25
The amount of susceptance decreases as the diameter of the post is
reduced. If the post is made thicker, effective Q will be lowered and can
act as a 'band \)ass filter similar to an iris. .
The big advantage of the post .over an iris is that it is readily
adjustable. An adjustable post is known as a screw or slug. The
adjustable or tuning screws are shown in Fig. 6.26. As in case of posts
rv'\

(0)
<~
4
~cm (b) Fig. 6.26 (c)
1 J!i]
(d)
I depending upon the depth of penetration, the tuning screw may
introduce inductive or capacitive susceptance.
A combination of two screws A.g/4 apart can be used to match a
waveguide to its load similar to use of two fixed stubs in a transmission
line. A very effective waveguide matcher can be realised when two
tuning screws are placed in close proximity separated by 3 A.g/8 as
shown in Fig. 6.27. This is almost similar to the double stub matching
in transmission lines.

1-3"--1
I 8
I
h, I
C L

Fig. 6.27
6.9 COUPLING PROBES AND COUPLING LOOPS
When a short antenna in the form of a probe or a loop in inserted into a
waveguide, it will radiate and if it is placed correctly, the wanted mode
will be set up. Figure 6.28 shows the correct positioning of the coupling
probes for launching dominant TElOmode. The probe is placed at a
distance of A.g/4 from the shorted end of the waveguide I¥1dthe centre
of broader dimension of the waveguide because at that point electric
field is maximum. This probe will now act as an antenna which is
polarized in the plane parallel to that of electric field.

Co-axial
cable

Fig. 6.28 Coupling probe and loop.

 The coupling loop placed at the centre of shorted end pl,ate of the
waveguide can also be used to launch TElOmode Le. coupling is achieved
by means of a loop antenna located in a plane perpendicular to the plane
of the probe. It is thus seen that probes couple primarily to the electric
field and loops to a magnetic field but in each case both are set, up
because electric and magnetic fields are inseparable.
6.10 WAVEGUIDE TERMINATIONS
In a waveguide system it is not possible to attach a fixed resistive load
as a termination. Graphited sand at the end of the waveguide as shown
in Fig. 6.29a can dissipate energy to achieve SWR's of less than 1.01.
Alternatively a resistive rod placed at a point in the waveguide where
electric field strength is maximum can also do a similar job (Fig. 6.29b).
Fig. 6.2~c shows a wedge of resistive material (powdered iron or carbon
mixed with a binder deposited on a dielectric strip) in the form of a taper
that can act as a termination. All these are matched terminations and
almost no reflection occurs.
A permanent metal plate welded at the end ofthe waveguide (a short
circuit) may be employed for complete reflection. This could be made
movable (similar to a choke joint discussed earlier) by having an
adjustable plunger as shown by Fig. 6.29d and e.

~
~

Energ~
/
- ~ II
Energy
/
;
- J
11

Waveguide Resistive rod

Waveguide Graphited sand
(a) (b)

~dP
(c) (d)

~§;J
(e)
Fig.6.29
 6.11 FERRITE DEVICES
Ferrites are non-metallic materials with resistivities (p) nearly 1014
times greater than metals and with dielectric constants (Er) around
10-15 and relative permeabilities of the order of 1000. They have
magnetic properties similar to those of ferrous metals. They are oxide
based compounds having general composition of the form MeO.Fe20a
i.e." a mixture of a metallic oxide and ferric oxide where MeO represents
any divalent metallic oxide such as MnO, ZnO, CdO, NiO or a mixture
of these. They are obtained by firing powdered oxides of materials at
1l00.C or more and pressing them into different shapes. This
processing gives them the added characteristics of ceramic insulators
so that they can be used at microwave frequencies.
Ferrites have atoms with large number of spinning electrons
. resulting in strong magnetic properties. These magnetic properties are
due to the magnetic dipole moment associated with the electron spin.
Because of the above properties, ferrites find application in a number of
microwave devices to reduce reflected power, for modulation purposes
and in switching circuits. Because of high resistivity they can be used
upto 100 GHz.
Ferrites have one more peculiar property which is useful at
microwave frequencies i.e." the non-reciprocal property. When two
circularly polarised waves one rotating clockwise and other
anticlockwise are made to propagate through ferrite, the material reacts
differently to the two rotating fields, thereby presenting different
effective permeabilities to both the waves. i.e." Ert, Jlrt, PI for left
circularly polarised wave and Er2,Jlr2,P2for the right circularly polarised
wave.

6.11.1 FaradayRotation in Ferrites

Consider an infinite lossless medium. A static field Bo is applied along
. the z-direction. A plane TEM wave that is linearly polarised along the
x-axis at t =0 is made to propagate through the ferrite in the z-direction.
The plane of polarisation of this wave will rotate with distance, a
phenomenon known as Faraday Rotation.
Any linearly polarised wave can be regarded as the vector sum of
two counter rotating circularly polarised waves (Eo/2 vectors shown in
Fig. 6.30). The ferrite material offers different characteristics to these
waves, with the result that the phase change for one wave is larger than
the other wave resulting in rotation '9' of the linearly polarized wave, at
z =l.
It is observed that a rotation of 100 degrees or more per cm offerrite
length is typical for ferrites at a frequency of 10 GHz. If the direction
of propagation is reversed, the plane of polaris at ion continues to rotate
in the same direction i.e." from z = l to z = 0, the wave will arrive back
 x

y
Fig. 6.30 Faraday rotation.
at z = 0 polarised at an angle 2 e relative to x-axis.
In fact, the angle ofrotation 'e' is given by
1
...(6.75)
e = 2 (~+ ~-)-
where, 1 = length of the ferrite rod
~+= Phase shift for the right circularly polarised (component in
clockwise direction) wave with respect to some reference.
~- = phase shift for the left circularly polarised (component in
anticlockwise direction) wave with respe<:t to the same
reference.
In a practical ferrite medium, there will be finite losses. The
propagation constant for circularly polarised wave will have unequal
attenuation constants and unequal phase constant. Due to this, the
direction of Faraday rotation will be different in the two regions above
and below the resonant frequency (O)o).A two port ferrite device is shown
in Fig. 6.31 when a wave is transmitted from port (i)port~, it undergoes
rotation in the anticlockwise direction as shown. Even if the same wave
is allowed to propagate from port ~ port (i), it will undergo rotation in
the same direction (anticlockwise). Hence the direction of rotation of
linearly polarised wave is independent of the direction of propagation
ofthe wave.

Port 1 Port 2

Fig. 6.31
6.11.2 Microwave Devices which make use of Faraday rotation
We discuss three important devices which make use of faraday rotation
(a) Gyrator
(b) Isolator
(c) Circulator
(a) Gyrator: It is a two port
device that has a relative
phase difference of 180. for
-
'-' 1\
.
Port 1 Port 2
transmission from port CDport - Radians -
'-'
@and 'no' phase shift (0. phase
shift) 'for transmission from
port @ to port CDshown in Fig. Fig. 6.32
6.32.
The construction of a gyrator is as shown in Fig. 6.32. It consists of
a piece of circular waveguide carrying the dominant TEll mode with
transitions to a standard rectangular waveguide with dominant mode
(TE10) at both ends. A thin circular ferrite rod tapered at both ends is
located inside the circular waveguide supported by polyfoam and the
waveguide is surrounded by a permanent magnet which generates dc .
magnetic field for proper operation of ferrite. To the input end a 90.
twisted rectangular waveguide is connected as shown. The ferrite rod
is tapered at both ends to reduce the attenuation and also for smooth
rotation of the polarized wave.
Operation: When a wave enters port (j) its plane of polarization
rotates by 90. because of the twist in the waveguide. It again undergoes
Faraday rotation through 90' because offerrite rod and the wave which
comes out of port @will have a phase shift of 180' compared to the wave
entering port CD.
But when the same wave (TEIO mode signal) enters port @, it
undergoes faraday rotation through 90' in the same anticlock wise
direction. Because of the twist, this wave gets rotated back by 90. comes
out of port (j) with O' phase shift as shown in Fig. 6.30. Hence a wave
at port (i) undergoes a phaseshift off radians (or 180.) but a wave fed
from port @ does not change its phase'in a gyrator.
(b) Isolator: An isolator is a 2 port device which provides very small
amount of attenuation for transmission from port (i) to port @ but
provides maximum attenuation for transmission from port @to port (j).
This requirement is very much desirable when we want to match a
source with a variable load.
In most microwave generators, the output amplitude and frequency
tend to fluctuate very significantly with changes in load impedance.
This is due to mismatch of generator output to the load resulting in
reflected wave from load. But these reflected waves should not be
 lar lar lar
0 to 0 toO
Transition

ler lar
0 0
WG
TElO

(1)1
I
1 Ferrite
I
I
I
I
1
I TElO
fi Permanent
,, magnet

" tI TE11V
", ',
TElO
1
I
:K
"
I
I

/
,,
,,
Fig. 6.33
allowed to reach the microwave generator, which will cause amplitude
and frequency instability of the microwave generator.
When isolator is inserted between generator and load, the generator
is coupled to the load with zero attenuation and reflections if any from
the load side are completely absorbed by the isolator without affecting
the generator output. Hence the generator appears to be matched for
all loads in the presence of isolator so that there is no change in
frequency and output power due to variation in load. Thisis shown in
Fig. 6.34.
-
/J-W
Source Load

\ ',..

/J-W Isolator Load

Source

=0
Fig. 6.34
 ~- ------.-

Construction: The construction of isolator (Fig. 6.35) is similar to

gyrator except that an isolator makes use of 45' twisted rectangular
waveguide (instead of 90' twist) and 45' faraday rotation ferrite rod
(instead of 90' in gyrator), a resistive card is placed along the larger
dimension of the rectangular waveguide, so as to absorb any wave whose
plane of polarisation, is parallel to the plane of resistive card. The
resistive card does not absorb any wave whose plane of polarization is
perpendicular to its own plane.

lor
0
WG
TE 10 Po (2)
fi

TElO

p.I , TElO Pi (2)

TE11 ~
CDfi ' ,, 45' ~',

45..J/X " D'~WG

'.
II~' ~
CD~ 71,"45' TE1~
p=o I', Resistive
card
Fig. 6.35 Constructional details of isolator.
Operation: A TEIOwave passing from port (l)through the resistive
card and is not attenuated. After coming out of the card, the wave gets
shifted by 45' because of the twist in anticlockwise direction a& then
by another 45' in clockwise direction because of the ferrite rod and hence
comes out of port @with the same polarization as at port (l)without any
attenuation.
But a TEIOwave fed from port ~ gets a pass from the resistive card
placed near port @ since the plane of polarization of the wave is
perpendicular to the plane of the resistive card. Then the wave gets
rotated by 45' due to Faraday rotation in clockwise direction and further
gets rotated by 45' in clockwise direction due to the twist in the
waveguide. Now the plane of polarization of the wave will be parallel
with that of the resistive card and hence the-wave will be completly
absorbed by the resistive card and the output at port CDwill be zero. This
power is dissipated in the card as heat. In practice 20 to 30 dB isolation
is obtained for transmission from port (2)to port @.
(c) Circulator: A circulator is a
four port microwave device which CD
has a peculiar property that each
terminal is connected only to the
next clockwise terminal. i.e., port
CDis connected to port CDonly and
not to port G>and (i) and port (2)is
connected only to port @ etc. This @ ~
is shown in Fig. 6.36. Although
there is no restriction on the
number of ports, four ports are
most commonly used. They are
useful in parametric amplifiers, Q)
tunnel diode, amplifiers and
duplexer in radars. Fig. 6.36
Construction: A four port Faraday rotation circulator is shown in
Fig. 6.37. The power entering port CDis TEIO mode and is converted to
TEll mode because of gradual rectangular to circular transition. This
power passes port (j)unaffected since the electric field is not significantly
cut and is rotated through 45° due to the ferrite, passes port (i)unaffected
(for the same reason as it passes port @) and finally emerges out of port
@. Power from port @ will have plane of polarization already tilted by
45° with respect to port (i). This power passes port (i)unaffected because
again the electric field is not significantly cut. This wave gets rotated
by another 45° due to ferrite rod in the clockwise direction. This power
whose plane of polarization is tilted through 90° finds port G>suitably
aligned and emerges out of it. Similarly port @in coupled only to port
(i) and port (i)to port (i).

Port Q)
lor lor
0 to' a TX

8=45'
TE"
TElO
~)

Fig. 6.37 Four port circulator.