Lecture - 7

2.6 Loo
op Antenna
The far fields of an eleectrically smaall loop anten
nna are depenndent on the looop area but are independdent of
s
Here we
w considered a square loop
p, for finding out the far-fiield of an elecctrically smalll loop
the loop shape.
antenna. The
T square lo
oop, located in the x-y plaane and centeered at the cooordinate oriigin, is assum
med to
2
have an arrea of l and carry a uniforrm current I 0 .
The squarre loop may be
b viewed ass four segmen
nts which eacch represent aan infinitesim
mal dipole carrrying
current in
n a different direction.
d
In th
he far field, th
he distance vvectors from tthe centers off the four segm
ments
become allmost parallell.
l
R1 r sin sin
2
l
R2 r sin cos
2
l
(2..38)
R3 r sin sin
2
l
R4 r sin cos
2

metry for a squ

uare loop
2.8 Geom

As always in far field expressions, the above approximations are used in the phase terms of the magnetic
vector potential, but we may assume that R1 R2 R3 R4 r for the magnitude terms. The far
field magnetic vector potential of a z-directed infinitesimal dipole centered at the origin is

I 0l jkr
e
az
4 r

The individual far field magnetic vector potential contributions due to the four segments of the current
loop are

I l jk r sin sin
A1 0 e 2
ax
4 r
I l jk r sin cos
A2 0 e 2
ay
4 r
I l jk r sin sin
A3 0 e 2
(a x )
4 r
I l jk r sin cos
A4 0 e 2
(a y )
4 r

(2.39)

Combining the x-directed terms yields

A1 A3

jk l sin sin jk l sin sin

jkr e 2
e 2

I 0l

a
e

4 r

I 0l jkr kl

e
sin sin sin a x
2 r
2

Combining the y-directed terms yields

A2 A4

jk l sin cos jk l sin cos

jkr e 2
e 2

I 0l

a
e

4 r

I 0l jkr kl

e
sin sin cos a y
2 r
2

For an electrically small loop (l << ), the arguments of the sine functions above are very small and may
be approximated according to

sin( x ) x

x 1

which gives

A1 A3 j

k I 0l 2 jkr
sin sin ax
e
4 r

A2 A4 j

k I 0l 2 jkr
e
sin cos a y
4 r

The overall vector potential becomes

A A1 A2 A3 A4
j

k I 0 S jkr
e
sin sin a x cos a y
4 r

2
where S l = loop area. The bracketed term above is the spherical coordinate unit vector

A j

a .

k I 0 S jkr
e
sin a
4 r

This is far field magnetic vector potential for a electrically small current loop.
The corresponding far fields are

E j A
H j

k I 0 S jkr
sin
e
4 r

k I 0 S jkr

A
e
sin

4 r

k 2

(2.40)
(2.41)

k 2

Again the far field can be expressed as:

k 2 I 0 S jkr
sin
e
4 r

k 2 I 0 S jkr
sin
H
e
4 r

(2.42)

The fields radiated by an electrically small loop antenna can be increased by adding multiple turns. For
the far-field, the added height of multiple turns is immaterial and the resulting far fields for a multiple
turn loop antenna can be found by simply multiplying the single turn loop antenna fields by the number of
turn N. So the far-field for electrically small multiple turn current loop is
E

k 2 NI 0 S jkr
sin
e
4 r

k 2 NI 0 S jkr
sin
e
4 r

(2.43)

After finding the field components, the other parameters of the antenna can be found out by using the
procedure discussed in Module I and in the present Module (Module II).