Example: Rectangular Waveguide

EEL 5934

An air filled rectangular waveguide of dimensions b = a 2 = 1 cm is operated at

frequency f = 20 GHz .
a)
Determine which modes are propagating in the guide.
b)
Find the propagation constant, phase velocity, and wave impedance of the
propagating modes.
c)
Sketch the fields for each propagating mode in the waveguide.
Soln: a)
For a propagating mode, we require f fc . Now, for both the TE mn and
the TM mn modes of the rectangular waveguide, we have for the mn th mode:

v m n
c
fc =
( m 2 )2 + n 2 = 15 ( m 2 )2 + n 2 GHz . This gives

+ =
2
a
b
2b
fc,10 = 7.5 GHz , fc,20 = 15 GHz , fc,01 = 15 GHz , fc,11 = 16.77 GHz , fc,21 = 21.21 GHz ,
and all other higher order modes have higher cutoff frequencies. We see that the
propagating modes in the waveguide are the TE10 , TE 20 , TE 01 , TE11 , and TM11 (recall
that TM modes with a zero index are not allowed).
2

m n
+
= 100
From the Table, we have kc =
a b
2

b)

( m 2 )2 + n 2 , so

2 20 10 9
2
2

2
= k k = ( m 2 ) + n 2 =

( m 2 ) + n
8

v b

0.01
3 10
2

= 100

2
c

( 4 3)2 ( m 2 )2 + n 2 .

The phase velocities of each mode are given as

v p = and the wave impedances for TE modes are given by Z TE =

k
, and for TM

. These quantities for the propagating modes are tabulated below.

k
Mode kc ( rad m ) ( rad m ) v p ( 10 8 m s ) Z ( )
TE10
157.1
388.3
3.24
406.7
TE 20
314.2
277.1
4.54
570.0
TE 01
314.2
277.1
4.54
570.0
TE11
351.2
228.3
5.51
691.9
TM11
351.2
228.3
5.51
205.5

modes by Z TM =

c)

See Waveguide Fields example.