Introduction to Rectangular Waveguides http://kilyos.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~microwave/programs/magnetic/rect/info.

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Introduction to Rectangular Waveguides...
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Utilities Rectangular waveguides are th one of the earliest type of the transmission lines. They
DSP Applications are used in many applications. A lot of components such as isolators, detectors,
EM Applications attenuators, couplers and slotted lines are available for various standard waveguide
Rect.Waveguides bands between 1 GHz to above 220 GHz.
Microstrip Antennas
Microwave Filters
A rectangular waveguide supports TM and TE modes but not TEM waves because we
cannot define a unique voltage since there is only one conductor in a rectangular
Lange Coupler
waveguide. The shape of a rectangular waveguide is as shown below. A material with
Branchline Coupler
permittivity e and permeability m fills the inside of the conductor.
Directional Coupler
180 Deg.Hybrid C.
A rectangular waveguide cannot
Mw. Power Dividers
propagate below some certain
Propagation
frequency. This frequency is called the
Downloads
cut-off frequency.
Links
Site Map Here, we will discuss TM mode
rectangular waveguides and TE mode
rectangular waveguides separately.
Let’s start with the TM mode.

TM Modes
Consider the shape of the rectangular waveguide above with dimensions a and b
(assume a>b) and the parameters e and m. For TM waves H z = 0 and Ez should be
solved from equation for TM mode;

Ñ2xy Ez0 + h2 Ez0 = 0

Since Ez(x,y,z) = Ez0(x,y)e-gz, we get the following equation,

If we use the method of separation of variables, that is Ez0(x,y)=X(x).Y(y) we get,

Since the right side contains x terms only and the left side contains y terms only, they
are both equal to a constant. Calling that constant as kx 2, we get;

where ky2=h2-kx 2

Now, we should solve for X and Y from the preceding equations. Also we have the
boundary conditions of;

Ez0(0,y)=0

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Ez0(a,y)=0

Ez0(x,0)=0

Ez0(x,b)=0

From all these, we conclude that

X(x) is in the form of sin kxx, where kx =mp/a, m=1,2,3,…

Y(y) is in the form of sin kyy, where ky=np/b, n=1,2,3,…

So the solution for Ez0(x,y) is

(V/m)

From ky2=h2-kx 2, we have;

For TM waves, we have

From these equations, we get

where

Here, m and n represent possible modes and it is designated as the TMmn mode. m
denotes the number of half cycle variations of the fields in the x-direction and n denotes
the number of half cycle variations of the fields in the y-direction.

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When we observe the above equations we see that for TM modes in rectangular
waveguides, neither m nor n can be zero. This is because of the fact that the field
expressions are identically zero if either m or n is zero. Therefore, the lowest mode for
rectangular waveguide TM mode is TM11 .

Here, the cut-off wave number is

and therefore,

The cut-off frequency is at the point where g vanishes. Therefore,

Since l=u/f, we have the cut-off wavelength,

At a given operating frequency f, only those frequencies, which have fc<f will propagate.
The modes with f<fc will lead to an imaginary b which means that the field components
will decay exponentially and will not propagate. Such modes are called cut-off or
evanescent modes.

The mode with the lowest cut-off frequency is called the dominant mode . Since TM
modes for rectangular waveguides start from TM11 mode, the dominant frequency is

The wave impedance is defined as the ratio of the transverse electric and magnetic
fields. Therefore, we get from the expressions for Ex and H y (see the equations above);

The guide wavelength is defined as the distance between two equal phase planes along
the waveguide and it is equal to

which is thus greater than l, the wavelength of a plane wave in the filling medium.

The phase velocity is

which is greater than the speed of light (plane wave) in the filling material.

Attenuation for propagating modes results when there are losses in the dielectric and in
the imperfectly conducting guide walls. The attenuation constant due to the losses in

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Introduction to Rectangular Waveguides http://kilyos.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~microwave/programs/magnetic/rect/info.htm

the dielectric can be found as follows:

TE Modes
Consider again the rectangular waveguide below with dimensions a and b (assume
a>b) and the parameters e and m.

For TE waves Ez = 0 and Hz should be

solved from equation for TE mode;

Ñ2xy Hz + h2 Hz = 0

Since Hz(x,y,z) = H z0(x,y)e-gz, we get

the following equation,

If we use the method of separation of

variables, that is H z0(x,y)=X(x).Y(y)
we get,

Since the right side contains x terms only and the left side contains y terms only, they
are both equal to a constant. Calling that constant as kx 2, we get;

where ky2=h2-kx 2

Here, we must solve for X and Y from the preceding equations. Also we have the
following boundary conditions:

at x=0

at x=a

at y=0

at y=b

From all these, we get

(A/m)

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Introduction to Rectangular Waveguides http://kilyos.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~microwave/programs/magnetic/rect/info.htm

From ky2=h2-kx 2, we have;

For TE waves, we have

From these equations, we obtain

where

As explained before, m and n represent possible modes and it is shown as the TEmn
mode. m denotes the number of half cycle variations of the fields in the x-direction and
n denotes the number of half cycle variations of the fields in the y-direction.

Here, the cut-off wave number is

and therefore,

The cut-off frequency is at the point where g vanishes. Therefore,

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Introduction to Rectangular Waveguides http://kilyos.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~microwave/programs/magnetic/rect/info.htm

Since l=u/f, we have the cut-off wavelength,

At a given operating frequency f, only those frequencies, which have f>fc will propagate.
The modes with f<fc will not propagate.

The mode with the lowest cut-off frequency is called the dominant mode . Since TE10
mode is the minimum possible mode that gives nonzero field expressions for
rectangular waveguides, it is the dominant mode of a rectangular waveguide with a>b
and so the dominant frequency is

The wave impedance is defined as the ratio of the transverse electric and magnetic
fields. Therefore, we get from the expressions for Ex and H y (see the equations above);

The guide wavelength is defined as the distance between two equal phase planes along
the waveguide and it is equal to

which is thus greater than l, the wavelength of a plane wave in the filling medium.

The phase velocity is

which is greater than the speed of the plane wave in the filling material.

The attenuation constant due to the losses in the dielectric is obtained as follows:

After some manipulation, we get

Example:

Consier a length of air-filled copper X-band waveguide, with dimensions a=2.286cm,

b=1.016cm. Find the cut-off frequencies of the first four propagating modes.

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Solution:

From the formula for the cut-off frequency

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