AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY

Microwaves Faculty of Engineering

Laboratory ECE Department
𝝁𝝂 𝝁
𝝏𝝂 𝑭 = 𝝁𝟎 𝑱

ECE 331 – Fall 2024 Engineering Electromagnetics Dr. Angie El-Damak

Dr. Hussein Kotb

Exp. 4
Plane Wave Propagation and Polarization

Part 1: Wave Propagation in Different Mediums

1. Objectives:
• Understand the effect of different mediums on the characteristics of a
propagating wave
• Observe the effect of attenuation in lossy mediums
2. Theory:
As we have studied before a propagating electric field produces and accompanying
magnetic field and vice versa. This is considered an electromagnetic wave propagating in
a medium. When these EM waves are studied far away from source, their wavefront can
be considered as planar (wave properties are constant along the wavefront plane).

Fig. 1: Plane wave representation [1]

A propagating wave is characterized by its frequency (f), wavelength in the medium (λ),
and phase velocity (p). These parameters are affected by the dielectric and magnetic
properties of the propagation medium which are the dielectric permittivity (), magnetic
permeability (μ), and conductivity ()
In case of a lossless medium such as free space or perfect dielectric, the medium is non-
conducting (=0), and both the permittivity and permeability are purely real values.

[1] Fawwaz Ulaby, “Fundamentals of applied electromagnetics,” seventh edition

When we study the coupled maxwell equations for a lossless medium, we obtain the
following expression for the electric field:
2E + ω2μ  E= 0

From this equation, we can define the wave propagation constant (K), which can be
considered as the spatial propagation frequency.
K2 = ω2μ 
K = ω√μ
When solving the electric field equation, we find that the electric field is a sinusoidal
wave with a component in the positive direction of propagation and a component in the
negative direction of propagation.

Ex = E+ cos (ωt – kz + φ) + E- cos (ωt + kz + φ)

We then solve Maxwell’s equation to obtain a similar expression for the magnetic field.
𝑘 𝑘
Hy = 𝜔𝜇 E+ cos (ωt – kz + φ) + 𝜔𝜇 E- cos (ωt + kz + φ)

In order to relate the amplitudes of the electric and magnetic wave we define the
characteristic impedance of the wave (). It can be calculated by the following equation.

𝜔𝜇 𝑘 𝜇
= = =√
𝑘 𝜔𝜀 𝜀
And both the wavelength in medium and the phase velocity of the propagating wave
can be calculated as follows.
2𝜋 𝑝
λ= =
𝑘 𝑓
𝜔 1
p = =
𝑘 √𝜇𝜀
In case of a conducting medium ( ≠ 0), we return to examine the wave equation:
2E + ω2μ c E= 0
Where c is the complex permittivity of the medium, and is defined as:
𝜎
𝜀𝑐 = 𝜀 − 𝑗
𝜔
And we define the complex propagation constant as:

γ2 = - ω2μ c = α2 – β2
where α is the attenuation constant, and β is the phase constant in the medium.

𝜎
γ = j ω√μc = α + jβ = jk√1 − 𝑗
𝜔𝜀
 And the electric field can be expressed as follows:

Ex = E+ e-α z cos (ωt – kz + φ) + E- eα z cos (ωt + kz + φ)

And the characteristic impedance can be calculated as follows:
𝑗𝜔𝜇 𝜇
c = =√
𝛾 𝜀𝑐

The attenuation constant (α) causes the amplitude of the propagating fields to decrease
exponentially with distance. Therefore, we define a new parameter called skin depth (δs)
to express how far an electromagnetic field can travel through a conducting medium.
1
The skin depth is found by calculating how far the wave needs to travel to reach 𝑒 of its
initial amplitude. It is found to be:
1
δs = 𝛼
𝜎 𝜎 1
Finally, we can classify how lossy the medium is by observing the 𝜔𝜀 term. If 𝜔𝜀 ≪ 100
𝜎
,the medium is considered a low loss dielectric. If 𝜔𝜀 ≫ 100 , the medium is considered
1 𝜎
a good conductor. If 100 < 𝜔𝜀 <100 , the medium is a quasi-conductor.

For further reading, you can return to chapter 7 in “Fundamentals of applied

electromagnetics,” 7th edition.

3. Hand analysis:

For a 1 GHz electric field propagating in a non-magnetic medium in the +ve z-direction,
with phase = 0, and initial amplitude of 1 V/m, calculate λ, , α, β, δs, the amplitude of
the electric field after it travels 1 λ, and the type of material for each of the following
propagation mediums and place your results in a neat table:
a) Vacuum: r = 1,  = 0
b) Fresh water: r = 81,  = 0
c) Copper: r = 1,  = 5.8*107 S/m
d) Dry soil: r = 2.5,  = 10-4 S/m

4. Simulation:
Make sure that Java is installed on your device.
 Start the attached Module 7.2.
 Close the instructions window.
 Input the medium properties given in the previous section in the application.
 (NOTE: numbers are written in the scientific e notation. Example:
5x107=5e7)
 Click the update button
 Record the output wave properties for each case and make sure it’s the same as
the calculated results in the previous section.
 Screenshot the displayed E and H and compare the amplitude of the electric field
at l = 1 λ and l = 10 λ for each case.
 Part 2: Wave Polarization
1. Theory:
The polarization of a uniform plane wave describes the locus traced by the tip of the E
vector (in the plane orthogonal to the direction of propagation) at a given point in space
as a function of time.
In order to deduce the wave polarization, first, we choose a plane perpendicular to the
direction of propagation (example: if the wave is propagating in z-direction we select
the xy-plane). Then we set z=0 in the electric field equation:
̂𝑥 + Ey cos (ωt + kz + φy) 𝒂
E = Ex cos (ωt – kz + φx) 𝒂 ̂𝑦
Then we substitute ωt with values ranging from 0 to 2π. If the points placed in the xy-
plane form a line segment, the wave is said to be linearly polarized.
If the points form a circle, the wave is said to be circularly polarized. If the points form
an ellipse, the wave is said to be elliptically polarized.
In case of circularly or elliptically polarized, we need to also determine if the wave is
left-hand or right-hand wave. This can be determined by following the placed points on
the xy-plane in order of increasing ωt.
Polarization can also be easily determined from the equation without the need of
drawing. First we observe the phase of the wave, if both the x and y component are in
phase (φx = φx), the wave is linearly polarized regardless the amplitudes of Ex and Ey.
If the fields are out of phase ( φy ≠ φx), the wave is elliptically polarized. If φy – φx =
positive value, then the wave is a left-hand wave. If φy – φx = negative value, then the
wave is a right-hand wave.
Circular polarization is a special case of elliptical polarization. If Ex and Ey are equal and
| 𝜑𝑦 – 𝜑𝑥 | = 90°, then the wave is said to be circularly polarized.
2. Hand Analysis:
For a wave characterized by the electric field
̂ 𝑎𝑥 𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜔𝑡 − 𝑘𝑧) + 𝒚
𝑬(𝑧, 𝑡) = 𝒙 ̂ 𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑠(𝜔𝑡 − 𝑘𝑧 + 𝛿)

Identify the polarization state, and sketch the locus of E(0, t) for each of the following cases:
(a) ax = 0.3 V/m, ay = 0.4 V/m, and δ = 0◦
(b) ax = 0.3 V/m, ay = 0.4 V/m, and δ = 180◦
(c) ax = 0.3 V/m, ay = 0.3 V/m, and δ = 45◦
(d) ax = 0.3 V/m, ay = 0.4 V/m, and δ = −135◦
(e) ax = 0.3 V/m, ay = 0.4 V/m, and δ = −90◦
(f) ax = 0.3 V/m, ay = 0.3 V/m, and δ = 90◦
3. Simulation:
 Start the attached Module 7.3.
 Input the same data as the previous section in the application.
 Make sure that “trace” is on.
 Click “update” and then “start”.
 Observe the resulting trace and check if it matches the results obtained in the
previous section.
 Screenshot the resulting trace for each case and place your screenshots in a neat
table.