Coupled modes, frequencies and fields of a dielectric resonator and a cavity using coupled mode theory

Probes consisting of a dielectric resonator (DR) inserted in a cavity are important integral components of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometers because of their high signal-to-noise ratio. This article studies the behavior of this system, based on the coupling between its dielectric and cavity modes. Coupled-mode theory (CMT) is used to determine the frequencies and electromagnetic fields of this coupled system. General expressions for the frequencies and field distributions are derived for both the resulting symmetric and anti-symmetric modes. These expressions are applicable to a wide range of frequencies (from MHz to THz). The coupling of cavities and DRs of various sizes and their resonant frequencies are studied in detail. Since the DR is situated within the cavity then the coupling between them is strong. In some cases the coupling coefficient, kappa, is found to be as high as 0.4 even though the frequency difference between the uncoupled modes is large. This is directly attributed to the strong overlap between the fields of the uncoupled DR and cavity modes. In most cases, this improves the signal to noise ratio of the spectrometer. When the DR and the cavity have the same frequency, the coupled electromagnetic fields are found to contain equal contributions from the fields of the two uncoupled modes. This situation is ideal for the excitation of the probe through an iris on the cavity wall. To verify and validate the results, finite element simulations are carried out. This is achieved by simulating the coupling between a cylindrical cavity's TE011 and the dielectric insert's TE01 delta modes. Coupling between the modes of higher order is also investigated and discussed. Based on CMT, closed form expressions for the fields of the coupled system are proposed. These expressions are crucial in the analysis of the probe's performance. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.