Transmission of horizontally polarized waves and trapped waveguide modes in inhomogeneous media

A generalized Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin (WKB) approach is used to obtain full wave solutions for horizontally polarized waves in inhomogeneous media when no closed form analytic solutions are known. This approach is suitable for complex permittivity profiles with critical coupling regions even when the permittivity gradient approaches zero. The transmission and reflection coefficients and the characteristic surface impedance for inhomogeneous layers of finite thickness are computed for several permittivity profiles. Excitation of propagating and evanescent waves is considered and the results are shown to satisfy the realizability and reciprocity relationships in electromagnetic theory. Sinusoidal permittivity profiles for which closed form analytical solutions are known are also considered to provide an additonal check on the generalized WKB solutions. For permittivity profiles with several spatial periods, transmission windows with very narrow beamwidths are found to exist. When conditions for total internal reflection in the inhomogeneous dielectric layer are satisfied, the reciprocal of the reflection coefficient vanishes and propagating waves are trapped in the layer. For these trapped waveguide modes the inhomogeneous dielectric is characterized by a surface reactance.