Electromagnetic Fields

Rectangular Wave Guide

a
x

z
y

b
Assume perfectly conducting walls and perfect dielectric filling the
wave guide.

Convention :

a is always the wider side of the wave guide.

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

240

Electromagnetic Fields

It is useful to consider the parallel plate wave guide as a starting

point. The rectangular wave guide has the same TE modes
corresponding to the two parallel plate wave guides obtained by
considering opposite metal walls

b
TEm0
Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

TE0n
241

Electromagnetic Fields

The TE modes of a parallel plate wave guide are preserved if

perfectly conducting walls are added perpendicularly to the electric
field.

E
H

The added metal plate does

not disturb normal electric
field and tangent magnetic
field.

On the other hand, TM modes of a parallel plate wave guide

disappear if perfectly conducting walls are added perpendicularly to
the magnetic field.

H
E

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

The magnetic field cannot

be normal and the electric
field cannot be tangent to a
perfectly conducting plate.

242

Electromagnetic Fields

TEmn
TMmn
The remaining modes are TE and TM modes bouncing off each wall,
all with non-zero indices.

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243

Electromagnetic Fields

We have the following propagation vector components for the

modes in a rectangular waveguide

2 = 2 = x2 + 2y + z2
m
n
;
x =
y =
a

2
2 2
z = = = 2 x2 2y
z
g
2
2

m
n

= 2

a
b
At cut-off we have

2
2
m

z2 = 0 = ( 2 fc ) 2

a
b
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244

Electromagnetic Fields

The cut-off frequencies for all modes are

m
n
fc =
+
b
2 a
1

with cut-off wavelengths

c =

2
2
2
m
n
+
a
b

with indices

TE modes m = 0, 1, 2, 3,
n = 0, 1, 2, 3,
(but m = n = 0 not allowed)
Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

TM modes m = 1, 2, 3,
n = 1, 2, 3,

245

Electromagnetic Fields

The guide wavelengths and guide phase velocities are

=
g = z =
z

m
n

a
b
2

1
c

1
v pz =
=
z

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

fc
1
f

1

1
c

1
fc
1
f

246

Electromagnetic Fields

The fundamental mode is the TE10 with cut-off frequency

fc ( TE10 ) =

m
2a

The TE10 electric field has only the y-component. From Amperes
law

E = j H

iy
ix

det
x
y

Ex = 0 E y

Ez

E y = j H x

y
z

Ex
E z = j H y = 0

x
z
z

E z = 0

iz

x
Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

Ey

E x = j H z

247

Electromagnetic Fields

The complete field components for the TE10 mode are then

x j z z

E y = Eo sin e
a
z
x j z z
1 E y j z

=
Eo sin e
Ey =
Hx =
j z
j

a
1 E x
j
x j z z

Eo cos e
Hz =
=
j z a
a
with

z =
a
2

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

248

Electromagnetic Fields

The time-average power density is given by the Poynting vector

( )

x
1
*
P (t ) = Re E H = Re{Eo sin
a
2
2
1

*
Eo sin

( )
x
a

j z z

( )

ix
H

E
*
Eo cos

j z z

( )
x
a

iy

j z z

iz )}

( ) ( )

2
E 2
E

x
x
x

2
o
z
o
iz j
sin
si n
cos
ix
= Re
a
a
a
a
2

( )

Eo z
2 x
=
sin
a
2

iz

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Electromagnetic Fields

The resulting time-average power density flow is space-dependent

on the cross-section (varying along x, uniform along y)

Eo z 2 x
sin iz
P (t ) =
2
a
The total transmitted power for the TE10 mode is obtained by
integrating over the cross-section of the rectangular wave guide

a
b
Ptot (t ) =
dx dy
0
0

Eo

sin

( )

2 x
a

Eo

a
b
sin 2 ( u ) du =
0
2

=b

Eo

ab 1

sin 2u

4
0

Eo

ab =

Eo

average 1
TE
2
|E( x , y )|
Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

ab
area

250

Electromagnetic Fields

The rectangular waveguide has a high-pass behavior, since signals

can propagate only if they have frequency higher than the cut-off
for the TE10 mode.
For mono-mode (or single-mode) operation, only the fundamental
TE10 mode should be propagating over the frequency band of
interest.
The mono-mode bandwith depends on the cut-off frequency of the
second propagating mode. We have two possible modes to
consider, TE01 and TE20

fc (TE01 ) =
fc (TE20 ) =

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

1
2b
1
a

= 2 fc (TE10 )

251

Electromagnetic Fields

a
b=

If

fc ( TE01 ) = fc ( TE20 ) = 2 fc ( TE10 ) =

1
a

Mono-mode bandwidth

fc ( TE10 )

a> b>
2

If

fc ( TE20 ) f
fc ( TE01 )

fc ( TE10 ) < fc ( TE01 ) < fc ( TE20 )

Mono-mode bandwidth

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

fc ( TE10 )

fc ( TE01 ) fc ( TE20 ) f
252

Electromagnetic Fields

If

a
b<

fc ( TE20 ) < fc ( TE01 )

Mono-mode bandwidth

fc ( TE10 )

fc ( TE20 ) fc ( TE01 )

In practice, a safety margin of about 20% is considered, so that the

useful bandwidth is less than the maximum mono-mode bandwidth.
This is necessary to make sure that the first mode (TE10) is well
above cut-off, and the second mode (TE01 or TE20) is strongly
evanescent.
Safety margin
Useful bandwidth

fc ( TE10 )

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

fc ( TE20 ) fc ( TE01 )
253

Electromagnetic Fields

a= b

If

(square wave guide)

fc ( TE10 )

fc ( TE01 )

fc ( TE10 ) = fc ( TE01 )

fc ( TE20 ) f
fc ( TE02 )

In the case of perfectly square wave guide, TEm0 and TE0n modes
with m=n are degenerate with the same cut-off frequency.
Except for orthogonal field orientation, all other properties of
degenerate modes are the same.

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254

Electromagnetic Fields

Example - Design an air-filled rectangular waveguide for the

following operation conditions:
a) 10 GHz is the middle of the frequency band (single-mode
operation)
b) b = a/2
The fundamental mode is the TE10 with cut-off frequency

c 3 10 8
fc (TE10 ) =
=

Hz
2a
2a o o 2a
1

For b=a/2, TE01 and TE20 have the same cut-off frequency.

c c 2 c 3 10 8
fc (TE01 ) =
=
=
=
Hz
a
2b o o 2b 2 a a
1

c 3 10 8
fc (TE20 ) =
=
Hz
a
a o o a
1

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

255

Electromagnetic Fields

The operation frequency can be expressed in terms of the cut-off

frequencies

fc (TE01 ) fc (TE10 )
f = fc (TE10 ) +
2
fc (TE10 ) + fc (TE01 )
=
= 10.0 GHz
2
8
8

1
3
10
3
10
10.0 109 =
+

2 2 a
a

a = 2.25 10

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

a
b = = 1.125 10 2 m
2

256

Electromagnetic Fields

Maxwells equations for TE modes

Since the electric field must be transverse to the direction of
propagation for a TE mode, we assume

Ez = 0
In addition, we assume that the wave has the following behavior
along the direction of propagation

j z z

In the general case of TEmn modes it is more convenient to start

from an assumed intensity of the z-component of the magnetic field

H z = H o cos ( x x ) cos y y e j z z
m

= H o cos
a
Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

x cos

y e j z z

257

Electromagnetic Fields

Faradays law for a TE mode, under the previous assumptions, is

E = j H

ix

det
x

E x

iy

y
Ey

iz

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

E y = j z E y = j H x (1)
z

E x = j z E x = j H y (2)

E y E x = j H z (3)
x
y

258

Electromagnetic Fields

Amperes law for a TE mode, under the previous assumptions, is

H = j E

ix

det
x

H x

iy

y
Hy

iz

H z

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

H z + j z H y = j E x (4)
y

j z H x H z = j E y (5)
x

H y H x = j E z = 0 (6)
x
y

259

Electromagnetic Fields

From (1) and (2) we obtain the characteristic wave impedance for
the TE modes

Ey
Ex
=
=
= TE
Hy
Hx z
At cut-off

m n

z = 0 2 fc = +
a b
vp
1
2
fc =
=
c =
2
2
c c
m
n
+

a b

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

260

Electromagnetic Fields

In general,

2
2
4
m

2
1
z =
=

a b
( 2 )2 c2

z =

1
c

and we obtain an alternative expression for the characteristic wave

impedance of TE modes as

2 1 2

= o 1
TE =
c
z

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

261

Electromagnetic Fields

From (4) and (5) we obtain

H z + j z H y = j E x = j TE H y
y
H z
H z
1
1
=
Hy =

j TE j z y
j z y
j

H z
c H z

Hy = 2
=

z
2 y

2
y
z
j z

j z H x H z = j E y = j TE H x
x

H z
c H z
Hx = 2
= j z
2 x
2 x
z
j z

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

262

Electromagnetic Fields

We have used

c
=
=
=
2
2
2
2
2
2 2
z x + y m n
+

The final expressions for the magnetic field components of TE

modes in rectangular waveguide are

m c
m

H x = j z
H o sin
a 2
a

x cos

y e j z z

n c
m

H y = j z
H o cos
b 2
a
m
n

x sin
b

y e j z z

x cos
y e j z z
H z = H o cos
a
b
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Electromagnetic Fields

The final electric field components for TE modes in rectangular

wave guide are

E x = TE H y
2

n c
m

= jTE z
H o cos
b 2
a
E y = TE H x
2

x sin
b

m c
m

= jTE z
H o sin
a 2
a
Ez = 0

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

y e j z z

x cos

y e j z z

264

Electromagnetic Fields

Maxwells equations for TM modes

Since the magnetic field must be transverse to the direction of
propagation for a TM mode, we assume

Hz = 0
In addition, we assume that the wave has the following behavior
along the direction of propagation

e j z z
In the general case of TMmn modes it is more convenient to start
from an assumed intensity of the z-component of the electric field

E z = Eo cos ( x x ) cos y y e j z z

= Eo cos
a
Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

x cos

y e j z z

265

Electromagnetic Fields

Faradays law for a TM mode, under the previous assumptions, is

E = j H

ix

det
x

E x

iy

y
Ey

iz

E z

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

E z + j z E y = j H x (1)
y

j z E x
E z = j H y (2)
x

E y E x = j H z (3)
x
y

266

Electromagnetic Fields

Amperes law for a TM mode, under the previous assumptions, is

H = j E

ix

det
x

H x

iy

y
Hy

iz

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

j z H y = j E x

(4)

j z H x = j E y

(5)

H y H x = j E z
x
y

(6)

267

Electromagnetic Fields

From (4) and (5) we obtain the characteristic wave impedance for
the TM modes

E y z
Ex
=
=
= TM
Hy
Hx
We can finally express the characteristic wave impedance
alternatively as

z
= o 1
TM =

Note once again that the same cut-off conditions, found earlier for
TE modes, also apply for TM modes.

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268

Electromagnetic Fields

From (1) and (2) we obtain

Ey

E z + j z E y = j H x = j
TM
y
E z
E z
1
1
=
Ey =

j / TM j z y
j
j z y

E z
c E z
Ey = 2
= j z
2 y
2 y
z
j z

Ex

j z E x E z = j H y = j
x
TM

E z
c E z
Ex = 2
= j z
2 x
2 x
z
j z

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

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Electromagnetic Fields

The final expressions for the electric field components of TM modes

in rectangular waveguide are

m c
m

E x = j z
Eo cos
a 2
a

x sin
b

y e j z z

n c
m
n

E y = j z
x cos
Eo sin
b 2
a
b
m n j z z

E z = Eo sin
x sin
y e
a b

y e j z z

Amanogawa, 2006 Digital Maestro Series

270

Electromagnetic Fields

The final magnetic field components for TM modes in rectangular

wave guide are

H x = E y / TM

z n c 2
m

= j
Eo sin
TM b 2
a
H y = E x / TM

x cos

z m c 2
m

=j
Eo cos
TM a 2
a

y e j z z

x sin
b

y e j z z

Hz = 0

Note: all the TM field components are zero if either x=0 or y=0.
This proves that TMmo or TMon modes cannot exist in the
rectangular wave guide.
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271

Electromagnetic Fields

Field patterns for the TE10 mode in rectangular wave guide

Cross-section

Side view

E
z

Top view

H
E

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272

Electromagnetic Fields

The simple arrangement below can be used to excite the TE10 in a

rectangular waveguide.

Closed end
TE10

The inner conductor of the coaxial cable behaves like an antenna

and it creates a maximum electric field in the middle of the crosssection.

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273