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AntennaTutorialsAnalysisofWaveguides(Continued)TEFields

MathematicalAnalysisofWaveguides(Continued)
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Onthepreviouspage,thezcomponentoftheelectricvectorpotentialfortheTEmodewas
derived:

Usingthefieldrelationships:

WecanwritetheallowablefieldconfigurationsfortheTE(transverseelectric)modeswithina
waveguide:

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AntennaTutorialsAnalysisofWaveguides(Continued)TEFields

Intheabove,theconstantsarewrittenasAmnthisimpliesthattheamplitudeforeachmode
canbeindependentoftheothershowever,thefieldcomponentsforasinglemodemustallbe
related(thatis,ExandHydonothaveindependentcoefficients).

CutoffFrequency(fc)
Atthispointintheanalysis,weareabletosaysomethingintelligent.Recallthatthe
componentsofthewavenumbermustsatisfytherelationship:

[3]
Sincekxandkyarerestrainedtoonlytakeoncertainvalues,wecanplugthisfactin:

[4]
Aninterestingquestionarisesatthispoint:Whatisthelowestfrequencyinwhichthe
waveguidewillpropagatetheTEmode?
Forpropagationtooccur,
.Ifthisistrue,thenkzisarealnumber,sothatthefield
components(equations[1]and[2])willcontaincomplexexponentials,whichrepresent
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AntennaTutorialsAnalysisofWaveguides(Continued)TEFields

propagatingwaves.Ifontheotherhand,
,thenkzwillbeanimaginarynumber,in
whichcasethecomplexexponentialaboveinequations[12]becomesadecayingreal
exponential.Inthiscase,thefieldswillnotpropagatebutinsteadquicklydieoutwithinthe
waveguide.Electromagneticfieldsthatdieoffinsteadofpropagatearereferredtoasevanescent
waves.
Tofindthelowestfrequencyinwhichpropagationcanoccur,wesetkz=0.Thisisthetransition
betweenthecutoffregion(evanescent)andthepropagationregion.Settingkz=0inequation[4],
weobtain:

[5]
Ifmandnarebothzero,thenallofthefieldcomponentsin[12]becomezero,sowecannot
havethiscondition.Thelowestvaluethelefthandsideofequation[5]cantakeoccurswhen
m=1andn=0.Thesolutiontoequation[5]whenm=1andn=0,givesthecutofffrequencyfor
thiswaveguide:

Anyfrequencybelowthecutofffrequency(fc)willonlyresultinevanescentordecaying
modes.Thewaveguidewillnottransportenergyatthesefrequencies.Inaddition,ifthe
waveguideisoperatingatafrequencyjustabovefc,thentheonlymodethatisapropagating
modewillbetheTE10mode.Allothermodeswillbedecaying.Hence,theTE10mode,sinceit
hasthelowestcutofffrequency,isreferredtoasthedominantmode.
Everymodethatcanexistwithinthewaveguidehasitsowncutofffrequency.Thatis,fora
givenmodetopropagate,theoperatingfrequencymustbeabovethecutofffrequencyforthat
mode.Bysolving[5]inamoregeneralform,thecutofffrequencyfortheTEmnmodeisgiven
by:

Althoughwehaven'tdiscussedtheTM(transversemagnetic)mode,itwillturnoutthatthe
dominantTMmodehasahighercutofffrequencythanthedominantTEmode.Thiswillbe
discussedinthenextsection.
Togiveanexampleofthecutofffrequenciesofvariousmodes,let'sconsiderastandardxband
waveguide,withdimensionsofa=0.9"(2.286cm)andb=0.4"(1.016cm).Assumingthe
waveguideisfilledwithair(oravacuum),thenthecutofffrequenciesforvariousmodesare
giveninthefollowingtable:
TableI.CutoffFrequencyforTEmnModesinanXbandRectangularWaveguide

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AntennaTutorialsAnalysisofWaveguides(Continued)TEFields

Mode
TE10

6.56GHz

TE20
TE01

13.1GHz
14.8GHz

TE11

16.2GHz

TE30

19.7GHz

TE21
TE02

19.8GHz
29.5GHz

Ifwearerunningasignalthatiscenteredaround15GHzwitha1GHzbandwidth,thenthe
onlyTEmodesthatwouldpropagatewouldbeTE10,TE20andTE01.Inthenextsection,we'll
lookattheTMmode.

Next:TheTransverseMagnetic(TM)ModesinWaveguides
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