Rectangular Waveguides

The transmission media may be unbounded as free space or bounded. The behavior of electromagnetic waves in unbounded media has been dealt with in Chapter 8. The bounded media are structures that are constructed from conducting or/and dielectric materials such as transmission lines, waveguides, and optical fiber cables. Waveguides are constructed from metallic tubes filled with a dielectric material or dielectric slabs with a rectangular, circular or elliptical cross section. This chapter deals with a metallic waveguide of rectangular cross section. The general equations that govern the electromagnetic waves propagation in the waveguide are derived starting from Maxwell's equations. These general equations are used to analyze the behavior of electromagnetic waves and power flow in the metallic waveguide of a rectangular cross section. The topics of the chapter are analyzed in details and supported by numerous illustrative examples and figures in addition to solved problems. Homework problems are included at the end of the chapter.

Keywords: Attenuation constant, cut-off frequency, cut-off wavelength, group velocity, phase constant, phase velocity, propagation constant, transverse electric field, transverse electric and magnetic field, transverse magnetic field, wave impedance.