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.
