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Electromagnetic Wave Propagation through an Azimuthally Asymmetric Helix Slow Wave

Structure

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2003 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 42 7585
(http://iopscience.iop.org/1347-4065/42/12R/7585)
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Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) pp. 75857593

Part 1, No. 12, December 2003
#2003 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Electromagnetic Wave Propagation through an Azimuthally Asymmetric

Helix Slow Wave Structure
Young-Do J OO1 , Ashok Kumar SINHA1;2 and Gun-Sik P ARK1

1
2

School of Physics, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea

Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani 333-031, India

(Received March 17, 2003; revised August 11, 2003; accepted August 21, 2003; published December 10, 2003)

In the fabrication of the practical helix slow wave structure (SWS), the misalignment or the dielectric constant variation in its
support is not avoidable and, thus, causing azimuthal asymmetry in the structure. Therefore, the analysis of the asymmetric
structure becomes an important issue. In this study, rigorous eld analysis of a general asymmetric helical SWS was done by
considering the structure as a helix supported by n wedge shaped dielectric supports, enclosed in a metal envelope. To
consider the angular harmonic eect, the dielectric was not smoothed out. Using the present theory, the dispersion
characteristics of the asymmetric helical structure were obtained. The study of the dispersion characteristics of the asymmetric
structure revealed the stopband characteristics near the
-phase-shift point. This result was compared with that obtained from
3D FEM code, high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) and found to be in good agreement. It was also found that the
asymmetry in the structure lowered the phase velocity and the cut-o frequency but increased the stopband width.
[DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.42.7585]
KEYWORDS: helix slow wave structure, asymmetric structure, field analysis

1.

Introduction

Helix is extensively and continuously being used as a slow

wave structure (SWS), due to its broadband capability, in
practical devices, such as the traveling wave tubes in
telecommunication applications and electronic warfare
systems.1,2) The energy exchange takes place between the
linear electron beam and the electromagnetic wave propagating in the helix SWS which is capable of supporting a
slow wave with a phase velocity lower than the speed of
light in free space. For the ecient operation of the device,
the beam velocity should be nearly synchronous with the
axial phase velocity of the wave over the frequency range as
wide as possible. Thus, the dispersion characteristics of helix
SWS become of great importance.
Pierce studied the dispersion characteristics of the sheath
helix in free space.3) He didnt consider the eects of
dielectric supports and metal envelope used in a practical
helix slow wave structure. After Pierce, Belohoubek,4)
Kapoor,5) Jain,6) DAgostino,7) Sinha,8) Kartikeyan,9) and
many other workers studied the eects of dielectric supports.
But, they smoothed out the dielectric rods with the eective
dielectric constant. Therefore, their approaches could not
consider the eects of the azimuthal harmonics generated by
the periodical positioning of the support bars. Loshakov10)
did not smear out the eect of the support rods, but studied
limited case only, in which the supports rods were radially
unbounded. Basu11) considered the sheath helix supported by
a number of identical dielectric wedged-shaped rods which
were bundled symmetrically, enclosed by a metal envelope.
But, the analysis did not consider the asymmetry in the
structure. There can be misalignment of the support rods in
the fabrication and the dielectric constant variation in the
support rods, the SWS becomes, thus, the azimuthally
asymmetric structure. Hence, the analysis of the asymmetric
structure is indispensable.3,12,13) Onodera14,15) treated the
helix circuit as cascaded transmission lines of dierent
propagation constants and characteristic impedances to

E-mail: gunsik@plaza.snu.ac.kr

analyze the asymmetric structure. Basically, his approach

was transmission line based approach and needed characteristic impedance and further, no reference was made to the
angular harmonics caused by the periodical loading of the
support rods. Leviush16) got the dispersion characteristics of
a C-band helix circuit in the vicinity of the
-phase-shift
point, computed by CTLSS. But, that was only just computer
simulations.
To analyze a general asymmetric structure, in this study,
rigorous eld analysis of the structure was done. The helix
was considered as a sheath helix, for simplicity, which has
innitesimal thickness and anisotropic conductivity, that is,
innite and zero in directions parallel and normal to the
winding direction of the helix, respectively.12) And, exterior
of the helix up to the metal envelope was divided into n
wedge shaped regions with dierent wedge angles and
dielectric constants. Using Maxwell Equations, the electric
and magnetic eld expressions were obtained. The eld
expressions were substituted into the boundary conditions to
get the determinant formed by the coecients of the eld
constants. The solution of the above determinant equals to
zero, gives the value of the propagation constant. Using the
present theory, the dispersion characteristics near the
phase-shift point were studied for the dierent asymmetric
situations in the structure and stop band was found to occur
in each case. The results of dispersion characteristics were
compared with those of high frequency structure simulator
(HFSS) which is widely used in the electromagnetic
modeling.17) The eects of circuit parameters such as pitch,
and metal envelope position on dispersion characteristics,
particularly with respect to stopband, were also studied. The
electric eld distributions were presented for the symmetric
and asymmetric cases.
2.

Analysis

The physical model of the generalized helix SWS is

shown in Fig. 1. The sheath helix is located at r a, and the
metal envelope r b, the region between the sheath helix
and the metal envelope is divided into n wedge shaped
regions. Each region had dierent wedge angle n and

7585

7586

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

n

n-1
n-2

n=n

1
2

n=1

n=n1
n-3

n=n2

n=2

r ,n1

r ,n2
n-4

n=n3

r ,n3

Y. D. JOO et al.

r ,n

r ,1

r ,3

Sheath helix

n=i

n=3

r ,2

n=4
4

r ,4

n=5

n = n 4 r ,n4

Barrel

r ,5
5

n-5

Fig. 1. Physical model for a general asymmetric structure. The sheath

helix is located at ra, and the metal envelope at rb. The area between
the helix and the envelope is divided into n wedge shaped regions. Each
region has dierent wedge angle n and dielectric constant "r;n . For
vacuum region, the dielectric constant is 1.

Fig. 2. The concept of the practical asymmetric structure with 3 dielectric

support rods. The sheath helix is located at r a and the metal envelope
at r b. (a) For angular asymmetric structure: Shifting of the rods from
the normal positions, that is, oset angle  60 but dielectric constants
of the rods are the same "r 0 (
r,1 =
r,2
r,3 ), and (b) for dielectric
asymmetric structure: dielectric constants of the rods are dierent "r 60
(
r,1 =
r,2 6
r,3 ), but  0.

r 0, hence
dierent dielectric constant "r;n . With the help of Loshakov10) and Basu,11) the axial (Ez ) and azimuthal (E ) eld
expressions for the dierent regions in the structure can be
written as:
Ez;s
Hz;s

m1
1
X

As;m Ipm r Bs;m Kpm r ejpm  ;

Cs;m Ipm r Ds;m Kpm r ejpm  ;

m1
1

X

j!0
Cs;m Ip0 m r Ds;m Kp0 m r

m1

pm 
 2 As;m Ipm r Bs;m Kpm r ejpm  ;
 r
1

X
j!"0 "r;s

As;m Ip0 m r Bs;m Kp0 m r


m1

pm 
 2 Cs;m Ipm r Ds;m Kpm r ejpm  ;
 r

E;s

H;s

1
X

Bi;m Di;m 0;

For a general practical asymmetric structure (Fig. 2), that is,

a helix supported by three dielectric rods, N and n equal 1
and 6, respectively.
The properties of the structure responsible for the
boundary conditions (T1)(T6) shown in Table I, are as
follows. The isotropic conductivity of the metal shield
boundary condition (T1)(T2); the anisotropic perfect conductivity of the sheath helix boundary condition (T3)(T4);
and the continuity of the tangential components of the
electric elds at the interface between two dielectrics
boundary condition (T5)(T6). Table I. also shows the
relations between the constants. With the help of these
relations, all the eld constants can be expressed in terms of
a single eld constant, Ai;m . (Appendix A). Another
important boundary condition arises from the requirement
that there is no current perpendicular to the helix direction:

where As;m , Bs;m , Cs;m and Ds;m are the eld constants,  and
 are the radial and axial propagation constants, respectively. "r;s is the relative permittivity of the sth region, and m is
the angular harmonic number. Here, for s, si for inside
helix, and s1, 2,   , n for dierent wedge shaped regions
in angular period
exterior to the helix. Ipm r Ipn r and
Kpm r Kpm r are respectively the rst and second kinds
modied Bessel functions of argument r and order pm
which is dened as:

Hz;i a; ; z tan

Hz;n a; ; z tan

H;n a; ; z;

where n1 <  < n .

( tan1 p=2
a) is the pitch angle of the helix and p is
the helix pitch. Using the above eq. (6) and the eld constant
relations, one can write after an algebraic manipulation
(Appendix B):
q Ai;q

m1
X

m;q Ai;m
m 1
m 6 q

pm m2
=
mN;
where N is the angular period number and m is the angular
harmonic number.
The primed I and K are derivatives of the Bessel functions
with respect to r. Further, the elds should not diverse at

H;i a; ; z

 2 

q
tan
k

pq 
 2
 a

2

0;

1  q Ipq a Kpq a
1
1  0q Ip0 q a Kp0 q a

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

Table I.

Y. D. JOO et al.

Boundary conditions and eld constant relations.

Boundary condition
Ez;n b; ; z 0

Bn;m An;m

Ipm b
Kpm b

(T2)

E;n b; ; z 0

Dn;m Cn;m

Ip0 m b
Kp0 m b

(T3)

Ez;i a; ; z E;i a; ; z cot

(T4)

Ez;n a; ; z E;n a; ; z cot

(T6)




pm  Ipm a
tan  2
j!0
 a Ip0 m a



pm  1  m 0m Ipm a
An;m
tan  2
j!0
 a 1  0m m Ip0 m a
Ci;m Ai;m

Cn;m

Ez;i a; ; z Ez;n a; ; z

An;m Ai;m

n1 <  < n

Ez;n r; n ; z Ez;n1 r; n ; z
( tan1 p=2
a).

!
Ip0 q a Kpq b
N
1

aIpq a Kp0 q a
2

Ipq b Kp0 q a
(
)
n
X
2


;
"r;n n  n1 
N
n1
"


Ipm a Kp0 m a
N 
j!"0

aKpq n 1  q

2
j!"0

Kpm a
#
!
Z
0
n
n
Ipm a Kpm b X
1
jmqN
1
"r;n
e
d

1  m
Ipm b Kp0 m a n1
n1
N
1  m Ipm a Kp0 m a
1  q aKpq a
2

1  m Kpm a


 n !
n
jmqN
X
e

"r;n
;
jm  qN n1
n1

written respectively, from eq. (1) through eq. (5) as

"
2


Ai;1 Ai;1
I0 r

IN r cosN
A
Ai;0
Ai;0

2 # 12

Ai;1 Ai;1


;
10
IN r sinN
Ai;0
Ai;0
0
1


Ai;1 Ai;1

IN r sinN
B
C
Ai;0
Ai;0
B
C
 tan1 B


C:
@
A
Ai;1 Ai;1
I0 r

IN r cosN
Ai;0
Ai;0
11

where m Ip0 m a Kpm b =Kp0 m a Ipm b . Considering only the three

modes of practical interest, corresponding to m 0, 1 and
1 respectively, the above equation may be expanded as:
0 Ai;0 1;0 Ai;1 1;0 Ai;1 0;
0;1 Ai;0 1 Ai;1 1;1 Ai;1 0;
0;1 Ai;0 1;1 Ai;1 1 Ai;1 0;

m
1  m

An;m An1;m

a<r<b

where m Ipm a Kpm b =Kpm a Ipm b , Ip0 m a Kp0 m b =Kp0 m a Ip0 m b , and

m;q

Relation between constants

(T1)

(T5)

7587

2.1 Dispersion
The condition for a non-trivial solution for the eld is that
the determinant, formed by the coecients of the constants
occurring in three equations, is equal to zero. This condition
gives the determinant dispersion relation as:


 0
1;0 1;0 



9
1
1;1  0;
 0;1


 0;1 1;1 1 
The numerical calculation is done using C++ program to
get the propagation constant for the given helix, support rod
and envelope parameters at a selected frequency.
2.2 Axial eld amplitude and phase
tot
tot
amplitude ratio (A ) [ Ez;i
r=Ez;i
0
PThe
q1 q
E
=A
]
and
the
phase
angle
(
),
between
the
i;0

q1 z;i
tot
total axial electric eld at radial coordinate r [ Ez;i
r] and
tot
the total axial electric eld at helix axis [ Ez;i
0] may be

In writing eqs. (10) and (11), we have used the relation

IN r IN r. Further, at helix axis r0, IN r
IN r 0 and I0 r 1, therefore, Ai;0 may also be
dened as the total axial electric eld or non-azimuthally
varying fundamental mode at helix axis (r =0). Then, A is
tot
the total axial electric eld [ Ez;i
r] normalized by the
tot
total axial electric eld at helix axis [ Ez;i
0]. Similarly,
 is the phase of the total axial electric eld at radial
coordinate r, since, at the helix axis, only the nonazimuthally varying fundamental mode can exist. The
relation between the constants, namely, Ai;0 , Ai;1 and Ai;1 ,
occurring in the above equations may be easily obtained by
solving eq. (9).
Thus, one has
Ai;1 0;1 1;1  1 0;1

;
Ai;0
1 1  1;1 1;1

3.

Ai;1
0;1 1;1  1 0;1

Ai;0
1 1  1;1 1;1
12

Result and Discussion

The physical model of a particular asymmetric structure

which has three wedge shaped dielectric supports is shown
in Fig. 2. Here, two possibilities are considered: (a) the
angular oset where the asymmetry arises due to the
misalignment of the rod, that is, the rod is oset from its
normal position, and thus,  60 with the same dielectric
constants of the support rods "r 0 (
r,1
r,2
r,3 ), and
(b) dielectric oset where the asymmetry arises due to the
dielectric constant variations of the support rods "r 60

7588

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

Fig. 3. General dispersion characteristics of the symmetric structure with

angular harmonics m 1, 0, 1(support rod wedge angle=60 , dielectric
constant=6.5, sheath helix radius=0.7 mm, pitch=0.65 mm, metal envelope radius = 1.5 mm and the angular oset angle 0).

(
r,1
r,2 6
r,3 ) with  =0.
Therefore, in each cases of asymmetry, the number of
angular period (N) becomes 1 and the number of regions (n)
in one angular period becomes 6 respectively, with dielectric
constant of each interrod region equals to 1 for vacuum.
While, for the symmetric structure, N3 and n2 because
 0 and "r 0 (
r,1
r,2
r,3 ).
Solving eq. (9), the general dispersion curve of the
symmetric structure with no angular oset and equal
dielectric constant is shown in Fig. 3 where the phase shift
is the axial propagation constant multiplied by the pitch of
the circuit. Curves AE mean the dierent solutions of eq.
(9). Curves A and B are just the numerical solutions because
they do not represent physical situations. For example, for
phase shift equals to 1, the normalized phase velocity > 0:3
for curves A or B. Next, curve E representing m1 is also
beyond the range of practical interest and thus, only curves
C and D representing m0 and m1 are considered for
further study.
It is found from the earlier published works13,16) that the

-mode stopband is created in the asymmetric structure.
Thus, at rst, our study is related to analyze the structure
near the
-point where propagation constants of m0 and
m1 modes become equal. The dispersion shape around
the
-point for the angular asymmetric structure is shown in
Fig. 4 and compared with the symmetric structure. Figure 4
shows that for the symmetric structure, the upper and lower
branch lines are crossed. But, for the asymmetric structure
there occurs a frequency gap (f ) between the lower and
upper branches of the dispersion curves, and this gap is
known as the stopband. Further, the asymmetry causes the
lowering of the cut-o frequency (fc ) which is the highest
point of the lower branch where the propagation constants of
m=0 and m=1 modes meet each other and practically, the
device can operate upto this frequency (fc ). The gure, also,
clearly shows that for a given frequency the asymmetry
results in higher propagation constant, that is, reduced phase
velocity, particularly near to the cut-o frequency regime.

Y. D. JOO et al.

Fig. 4. Stopband characteristics of the angular asymmetric structure for

angular oset angles, 0, 10, 20 shown by curves A, B, and C
respectively (helix radius=0.7 mm, envelope radius=1.5 mm, support rod
dielectric constant=6.5, wedge angle 60 ).

Fig. 5. Cut-o frequency versus angular oset angle  (curve A),

stopband width % (curve B) for an angular asymmetric structure. Solid
line is from the present analysis, and the circle point is from HFSS
simulation (helix radius=0.7 mm, envelope radius=1.5 mm, support rod
dielectric constant=6.5, wedge angle 60 ) In HFSS simulation version
8.0, averaged 8485 mesh was made, max delta frequency is 0.208091%,
and simulation time is about 1 h for 1 data point in pen4 1.6 GHz CPU,
512 MB RAM.

The cut-o frequency and stop-band width versus angular

oset angle are obtained and compared with HFSS simulation in Fig. 5, where the stopband characteristic is shown
as %change in the stopband width with respect to the
frequency related to the mid point of the stopband. The cuto frequency is reduced, and the stopband width is increased
linearly with the increase of the angular oset angle . The
discrepancy between present theory and the HFSS simulation is below 1.5% for cut-o frequency and 0.1% for
stopband width. The error between present theory and HFSS
comes from the model of the analysis. It would be
interesting to mention that the dierence is not too much
but calculation time for the HFSS simulation is over than

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

Fig. 6. Stopband characteristics of the dielectric asymmetric structure for

dielectric oset "r 0% ("r 6:5), 10% ("r 7:15) and 20% ("r 7:8)
shown by curves A, B and C respectively, where "r is % change in the
dielectric constant of one rod with respect to the dielectric constants of
other rods (helix radius=0.7 mm, envelope radius=1.5 mm, support rod
dielectric constant=6.5, wedge angle 60 , angular oset angles
0).

Fig. 7. Cut-o frequency versus dielectric constant oset "r (curve A),
stopband width (%) (curve B) of the dielectric asymmetric structure.
Solid line is from the present analysis, and the circle point is from HFSS
simulation (helix radius=0.7 mm, envelope radius=1.5 mm, support rod
dielectric constant=6.5, wedge angle 60 ) In HFSS simulation
averaged 8810 mesh was made, max delta frequency is 0.200315%,
and simulation time is about 1 h for 1 data point in pen4 1.6 GHz CPU,
512 MB RAM.

one hour per a data-point, while that of the present analysis

is about 1 s per a data-point, only.
Next, the asymmetry due to dielectric constant variation is
taken into consideration for the study. In this case too, the
stopband characteristic is observed (Fig. 6). From the gure,
it is clear that for each frequency, the phase velocity is
reduced due to asymmetry in dielectric constant. The cut-o
frequency and stopband characteristics are shown against the
dielectric constant variation in Fig. 7 and compared with
HFSS simulation. The cut-o frequency is reduced, and the

Y. D. JOO et al.

7589

Fig. 8. Stopband characteristics of the angular asymmetric structure for

dierent b=a (ratio between metal envelope radius and helix radius)=2.0,
2.5, 3.0 shown by curves A, B, and C, respectively (support rod wedge
angle=50 , dielectric constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm, pitch=
0.65 mm).

Fig. 9. Stopband characteristics of the angular asymmetric structure for

helix pitch=0.585, 0.65, 0.715, and 0.780 mm shown by curves A, B, C,
and D respectively (support rod wedge angle=50 , dielectric constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm, envelope radius=1.5 mm).

stopband width is increased linearly with the increment of

the dielectric constant of the one of the three dielectric
supports, here, too. The discrepancy between the present
theory and the HFSS simulation is below 1.5% for cut-o
frequency and 0.1% for stopband width.
Being asymmetric structure, the cut-o frequency is
reduced. If the reduced cut-o frequency is located in the
working band of the device, there can be oscillation or
power hole. Therefore, nding the method of increasing the
cut-o frequency is a crucial issue. The eect of the metal
envelope position and the pitch in the asymmetric structure
are studied and shown in Figs. 811. It is found that there is
no eect of the metal shell position on the cuto frequency
(Fig. 8) while the reduced pitch enhances the cut-o
frequency in an asymmetric structure (Fig. 10). To study

7590

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

Fig. 10. Normalized phase velocity vs. frequency for b=a (ratio between
the metal envelope radius and the helix radius)=2.0, 2.5, 3.0 shown by
curves A, B, and C respectively (support rod wedge angle=50 , dielectric
constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm, pitch=0.65 mm).

Y. D. JOO et al.

Fig. 12. For the angular asymmetric structure: Amplitude ratio (A ) and
the phase angle ( ) between the axial electric eld and the nonazimuthally varying mode of the axial eld versus the azimuthal angle,
for the angular oset angle 0, 10, 20 shown by curves A, B, and C
respectively. The observation position r is 0.4 mm, and at 6 GHz (Support
rod wedge angle=60 , dielectric constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm,
pitch=0.65 mm, metal envelope radius=1.5 mm).

Fig. 11. Normalized phase velocity vs. frequency for helix

pitch=0.65 mm, with angular oset angle 0, 10, 20 degrees shown
by curves A, B, C respectively, and helix pitch=0.78 mm with 0, 10,
20 degrees shown by curves A0 , B0 , C0 respectively (support rod wedge
angle=50 , dielectric constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm, envelope
radius=1.5 mm).

Fig. 13. For the dielectric asymmetric structure: Amplitude ratio (A ) and
the phase angle ( ), between the axial electric eld and the nonazimuthally varying mode of the axial eld versus the azimuthal angle,
for the dielectric oset "r 0% ("r 6:5), 10% ("r 7:15) and 20%
("r 7:8) shown by curves A, B, and C respectively. The observation
position r is 0.4 mm, and at 6 GHz (Support rod wedge angle=60 ,
dielectric constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm, pitch=0.65 mm, envelope
radius=1.5 mm).

in more detail, the normalized phase velocity is plotted in

each case for larger frequency band and a comparison was
made between the symmetric and the asymmetric structures
(Figs. 10 and 11). Since, there is no change in phase velocity
at high frequency due to change of the metal envelope
position and thus no change in the cut-o frequency (Figs. 8
and 10). However, in the case of pitch, there is certain
change in phase velocity at high frequency and thus change
in cut-o frequency (Figs. 9 and 11). The cut-o frequency
can be increased by reducing the pitch, but the reduction of
the pitch means the slow phase velocity. Thus, the beam
velocity of the device should be reduced by decreasing the
beam voltage.
It would be interesting to study the variation of the total
axial electric eld in the structure along the azimuthal

position at dierent frequencies. With this aim, the amplitude (A ) and the phase ( ) of the normalized total axial
electric eld are computed from eqs. (10) and (11)
respectively. Here, the axial electric eld of two typical
frequencies, 6 GHz far away from the cut-o frequency and
20.3 GHz near the cut-o frequency, are presented for both
the symmetric and the asymmetric structures.
First, the results, at the frequency 6 GHz, are presented at
the dierent angular positions () in Fig. 12 for the angular
asymmetric case and in Fig. 13 for the dielectric asymmetric
case, respectively. For the symmetric case, A is the max at
the centers of support rods (0 , 120 , 240 ), since the plot
is made in such way that angular position  0 is the
center of the rst support rod of wedge angle 60 and A is
the min at 60 , 180 , 300 . For the angular asymmetric

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

Fig. 14. For the angular asymmetric structure: Amplitude ratio (A ) and
the phase angle ( ) between the axial electric eld and the nonazimuthally varying mode of the axial eld versus the azimuthal angle,
for the angular oset angle 0, 10, 20 degrees shown by curves A, B,
and C respectively. The observation position r is 0.4 mm, and at 20.3 GHz
(Support rod wedge angle=60 , dielectric constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm, pitch=0.65 mm, metal envelope radius=1.5 mm).

Y. D. JOO et al.

three azimuthal periods in symmetric case, while, only one

in asymmetric case. Moreover, the variance of amplitude
[ A %max  min= min 100] at 20.3 GHz in each
case of the angular and the dielectric asymmetry is
abnormally increased as  A 2:2%, 18.0%, 52.1% for
the angular asymmetry ( 0, 10 , 20 ), as A 2:2%,
25.6%, 167.0% for the dielectric asymmetry ("r =0, 10%,
20%), respectively. While, A at 6 GHz remains below
1% for the both angular and dielectric asymmetry in all the
situations (Figs. 12 and 15). It would be further interesting to
compare the increase of A max for the asymmetric case
with respect to that with symmetric case. It is clear from
Figs. 12 and 14 that at 20.3 GHz, A max increases by 7.5%
and 21.5% respectively for  10 , 20 , while 12.1% and
51.1% respectively for "r =10%, 20%. However, in all the
situations, these variations are well below 1% at 6 GHz. The
same nature of variation is also true for phase (Figs. 13 and
15). The study clearly shows that the asymmetry in the
structure has a distinct eect on the amplitude and phase of
the axial electric eld at all the frequencies. But, however,
closing to the cut-o frequency, the asymmetry has more
signicant eect in both amplitude and phase.
4.

Fig. 15. For the dielectric asymmetric structure: Amplitude ratio (A ) and
the phase angle ( ), between the axial electric eld and the nonazimuthally varying mode of the axial eld versus the azimuthal angle,
for the dielectric oset "r 0% ("r 6:5), 10% ("r 7:15) and 20%
("r 7:8) shown by curves A, B, and C respectively. The observation
position r is 0.4 mm, and at 20.3 GHz (Support rod wedge angle=60 ,
dielectric constant=6.5, helix radius=0.7 mm, pitch=0.65 mm, envelope
radius=1.5 mm).

structure, it is the minimum at 180 but the maximum for

the dielectric asymmetric structure. In the case of  , it is
zero at 0 , 60 , 120 , 180 , 240 , 300 and 360 for the
symmetric structure but it is zero only at 0 , 180 , 360
for the asymmetric structure [see eq. (11)]. In both Figs. 12
and 13, the variation of A or  , is not much, however, the
y-axis scale in each case is slightly more expanded to
appreciate the variation. Then, the results at the frequency
20.3 GHz are presented at the dierent angular positions ()
in Fig. 14 for the angular asymmetric case and in Fig. 15 for
the dielectric asymmetric case, respectively. From these
gures, it is clear that the nature of variation of A or  , at
20.3 GHz is same as that at 6 GHz. In all the cases, in the
symmetric case, there are three periodic variations, while in
asymmetric case, there is only one. This is natural due to

7591

Conclusion

Rigorous eld analysis of a general asymmetric structure

was done to study the asymmetry in the helix structure used
in a practical device. In an asymmetric structure, due to the
angular oset or dierent dielectric constants of the
dielectric supports, it was conrmed that stopband occurs
near the
-phase-shift point. The result from the analysis
code had a max discrepancy with that of HFSS simulation by
1.5% only, not so big dierence, but the calculation time
was impressively short. The dierence between two results
and limitation of this analysis came from the assumption of
the sheath helix, in which no space harmonic eect and no
helix tape width were considered. In an asymmetric
structure, the cut-o frequency and the phase velocity
become lower and the stopband width larger, it means the
reduction of the working frequency band of the device. To
overcome this eect, the beam velocity should be tuned to
match the decreased phase velocity of the wave.
The present analysis nds the dispersion relation directly
in terms of the helix SWS parameters in the practical
situations and, thus, can be used to study the electromagnetic
wave propagation characteristics of the device in few
seconds only.
Acknowledgement
Authors are thankful to Prof. B. N. Basu, BHU, Varanasi,
India, Mr. S. N. Joshi CEERI, Pilani, India, Prof. B. F. Jia
and Dr. Yanyu Wei, China, and colleagues of the Vaccum
Electrophysics Lab., School of Physics, SNU, Korea for
many fruitful discussions and encouragement, also to J. H.
Won for technical advices. This work is supported by Korea
Foundation of Science and Technology (KOFST), Korea.
1) D. R. Whaley, C. M. Armstrong, B. Gannon, G. Groshart, E. Hurt, J.
Hutchins, M. Roscoe, T. M. Antonsen, Jr. and B. Levush: IEEE Trans.
Plasma Sci. 26 (1998) 912.
2) C. R. Smith, C. M. Armstrong and J. Duthie: Proc. IEEE 87 (1999)
717.

7592

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

3) J. R. Pierce: Traveling Wave Tubes (D. Van Nostrand, New York,

1950).
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727.
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and B. N. Basu: IEE Proc. H Microwave Antennas and Propagation
139 (1992) 347.
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Venkateswarlu: IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 27 (1999) 1115.
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(1985) 3625.
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1999).
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17) HFSS 7.0 Users Electronic Manual (Ansoft Corporation, 1999).

Appendix A
The various constants occurring in eqs. (1)(4) can be
easily expressed in terms of a single constant, namely, Ai;m
using the relations between the constants shown in Table I.
as:
m
Ai;m ;
A1;m A2;m . . . An;m 
1  m
Ip b
1
B1;m B2;m . . . Bn;m m
Ai;m ;
K pm b 1  m
C1;m C2;m . . . Cn;m



pm 
0m Ipm a

tan  2
Ai;m ;
j!0
 a 1  0m Ip0 m a
D1;m D2;m . . . Dn;m Cn;m



tan
j!0

and the right side

nn X
1
Z n 
X

Kp0 m b

Ip0 m b Ipm a
pm 
 2
Ai;m :
 a 1  0m Kp0 m b Ip0 m a
A:1
0m

Multiplying eq. (6) with expjqd, where q 0; 1;

2; . . ., and then
The left side of the eq. (6) becomes
1 Z 2


X
N
Ci;m Ipm a Di;m Kpm a tan

j!"0 "r;n
An;m Ip0 m a Bn;m Kp0 m a



pm 
jmqN
 2 Cn;m Ipm a Dn;m Kpm a e
d
 a

nn X
1

X
pm 

tan  2 Cn;m Ipm a Dn;m Kpm a

 r
n1 m1
 Z n
j!"0 "r;n
0
0

ejmqN d:
An;m Ipm a Bn;m Kpm a

n1
B:2

Substituting eq. (A1) and (T3) of Table I. into eqs. (B2) and
(B3), and after a little algebraic manipulation, one can get:
"(


1
X
 Ipm a
pm  2 j!"0 0
Ai;m
tan  2

I
j!0 Ip0 m a
 a
 pm a
m1


pm  2 
0m Ipm a
tan  2
 r j!0 1  0m Ip0 m a
!) Z 2

Ip0 m b Kpm a
N
 Ipm a 
ejmqN d
Kp0 m b
0

0 
I
j!"0 m
pm b Kpm a

Ip0 m a 
 1  m
Kpm b
#
Z
n
n
n
X
jmqN

"r;n
e
d 0
B:3

j!"0 "r;i
Ai;m Ip0 m a Bi;m Kp0 m a


pm 
 2 Ci;m Ipm a Di;m Kpm a ejmqN d
 a



1

X
pm 
j!"0 0
Ci;m Ipm a tan  2
Ai;m
I

 a
 pm a
m1
Z 2

N
ejmqN d
B:1

0

n1

n1

Equation (B3) may be expressed as

Aiq Uq GI Vq "r;n Gn;I 

1
X

n
X

Ai;m Um GII Vm

!
"r;n Gn;II

0;

B:4

n1

m 1
m 6 q

where
0
1
p q  2 Ip q a
j!"0 0
 @
m A
m
tan  2
Ip q a
Uq
0

j!

a
I
m
m
0
pqa
m
2
3
0
1
0
0
Ip q a Kp q a p q a
m
6
A m 7
 4Ip q a @Ip q a  m 0
5;
m
m
Kp q a
1  0q
m

Vq
m

j!"0 @ 0
Ip q a 

m

Ip q
m

0
b Kp

q a
m

Kp q b

1
A

2

N

GI

d

2

N

GII

2

;
N

1  q

n

Gn

d n  n1 ;
n1

ejmqN d 0;

q
m

Cn;m Ipm a Dn;m Kpm a tan

n1

n1 m1

Ip0 m b

Appendix B

m1

Y. D. JOO et al.

n

Gn;II
n1

ejmqN d

ejmqN
jm  qN

n
:
n1

Here, one needs to use recurrence relation for qq and qm:

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 42 (2003) Pt. 1, No. 12

Ip0 q a Kpq a  Kp0 q a Ipq a

1
:
a

The rst term of eq. (B4) becomes, in the case of mq

"
2
j!"0 1 1
1
2
N  a Kpq a 1  q w2 o "o


pq  2 Ipq a Kpq a 1  q
 tan  2
 a Ip0 q a Kp0 q a 1  0q
!
Ip0 q a Kpq b
N
0
aKpq a Ipq a 1  0
1
2

Kpq a Ipq b
(
)#
n
X
2


:
B:5
"r;n n  n1 
N
n1

Y. D. JOO et al.

7593

And the last term of eq. (B4) becomes, in the case of m6q:
GII 0;
"
!#
1
n
X
X
Ai;m Vm
"r;n Gn;II
n1

m 1
m 6 q

"

1
X

Ai;m
m 1
m 6 q

n
X

n

"r;n

n1

Adding

!


Kp0 m a Ipm a
Ip0 m a Kpm a
j!"0
1
1 0

1  m

Kpm a
Kpm a Ipm b

eqs.

!#
ejmqN d

B:6

n1

(B5) and (B6), and dividing

one can easily get eq. (7).

2
j!"0 1 1
1
N  a Kpq a 1 q ,

with