We discuss the unidirectional current screen as an asymptotic strip boundary condition (ASBC) for analysis of field problems containing metal strip grids, and we introduce a related asymptotic corrugation boundary condition (ACBC) for analysis of corrugated surfaces. The boundary conditions are asymptotic in the sense that the exact boundary conditions approach the asymptotic ones when the strip and corrugation periods approach zero. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 14: 99–101, 1997.

Asymptotic boundary conditions for strip-loaded and corrugated surfaces and waveguides

The coupled transcendental equations describing cutoff frequencies of TE and TM modes are deduced for a rectangular waveguide with arbitrary wall impedance. In the case of TE modes, their generalization is made to a rectangular guiding structure, which possesses both distributed wall impedance and inhomogeneous dielectric loading. Effective impedance is obtained for imperfectly conducting surface incorporating periodic rectangular corrugations along the direction of mode propagation. Circular waveguide bounded by such corrugated surface and rectangular impedance waveguide are considered as numerical examples. For these waveguides, the computations performed to determine the cutoff frequencies of TE guiding modes are validated against the results of the perturbation theory and the finite-element method.

Cutoff Frequencies of a Dielectric-Loaded Rectangular Waveguide With Arbitrary Anisotropic Surface Impedance

This article presents an efficient analysis method for a novel continuous transverse stub (CTS) antenna. As opposed to state-of-the-art CTS antenna designs, the proposed architecture achieves circular polarization using a single CTS array and without any polarization converter. The structure consists of long radiating slots/stubs fed by over-moded parallel-plate waveguides. More precisely, the transverse electromagnetic (TEM) mode and the first transverse electric (TE1) mode of the feeding waveguides are used to generate a circularly polarized field. The array is analyzed using a spectral mode-matching method. First, the active reflection coefficient of the infinite array is derived in closed form. A windowing approach is then adopted to compute the radiation patterns of finite-size arrays. Numerical results obtained with this method are in excellent agreement with full-wave simulations, carried out with a commercial software. The performance of this class of CTS antennas has been investigated using the developed model. It is theoretically demonstrated that the proposed array can be designed to attain an axial ratio (AR) lower than 3 dB over a 52.9% relative bandwidth at broadside. Furthermore, the active input reflection coefficient is lower than −10 dB over a 40.8% relative bandwidth, when the array steers its main beam at $\theta _{0}=45^\circ $ . This solution is an attractive candidate for next generation satellite communication terminals.

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Analysis of Circularly Polarized CTS Arrays

The problem of determining the eigenmodes of a rectangular waveguide with one hard wall formed by longitudinal corrugations with grooves filled with dielectric is considered. The characteristic equation is derived by using the asymptotic boundary conditions for corrugated surfaces. It is shown analytically that if the groove depth is equal to the value 0.25 lambda/(epsilon - 1)(1/2) corresponding to the hard wall condition, the TE eigenmode spectrum of the waveguide contains an infinite set of new non-uniform quasi-TEM modes with different transverse propagation constants in the empty part and identical longitudinal propagation constants equal to the wavenumber k. Analytical solution for the case of excitation of the waveguide by a specified source is given, and an example of forming local quasi-TEM waves is considered and discussed.

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A New Type of the Quasi-TEM Eigenmodes in a Rectangular Waveguide with One Corrugated Hard Wall

The problem of determining the eigenmodes of a rectangular waveguide with one broad hard wall formed by longitudinal corrugations with grooves filled with dielectric is considered. The dispersion equation is derived on the basis of using the asymptotic boundary conditions for corrugated surfaces. It is shown analytically that if the groove depth is equal to the value 0.25λ/(e−1)½ corresponding to the hard wall condition, the TE eigenmode spectrum of the waveguide comprises an infinite set of degenerated quasi-TEM modes with different transverse propagation constants and identical longitudinal propagation constants equal to the wavenumber k. Such solutions are important for understanding the local waves appearing along ridges in such waveguides, that has inspired to the invention of new so-called gap waveguides.

Analysis of global eigenmodes in an oversized rectangular waveguide with a hard surface on one broad wall for planar slot array antenna applications

A TE/TM modal solution for a longitudinally corrugated rectangular waveguide is developed. These longitudinal corrugations can be used to excite a quasi-TEM wave and form a hard waveguide by correctly choosing the impedance at the guide wall. The correctly chosen impedance is referred to as the hard boundary condition. The modal solution developed here solves the problem of longitudinal corrugations filled with a dielectric material by first finding and solving the characteristic equation for a complete TE/TM modal set. It is shown that this TE/TM mode solution can be used to achieve the hard boundary condition resulting in the quasi-TEM wave in a hard waveguide for discrete values of corrugation depth. Beyond each of these depths, a mode becomes a surface wave. The theoretical mode set is amenable to the solution of problems using the mode-matching method. A combination of the mode-matching method and the TE/TM modal solution will allow the solution of larger problems.

D.T. Kelley

Papers

A TE/TM modal solution for rectangular hard waveguides