Properties of the electromagnetic wave propagation in a helix-loaded waveguide

Abstract

Properties of the electromagnetic waves propagating through a helix-loaded waveguide are investigated, including the important influence of the outer conducting wall on the dispersion properties. A closed algebraic dispersion relation for the eigenfrequency ω and the axial wave number k is obtained for arbitrary azimuthal harmonic number. It is shown that in the limiting case, where the outer conducting wall approaches close to the helix, this dispersion relation is reduced to three distinctive modes. These are the transverse electric mode, the transverse magnetic mode, and the helix mode, which can be further simplified to straight lines in the (ω, k) parameter space. Numerical investigation of the dispersion relation is also presented.