Electromagnetic Modes Inside Bounded Wave Simulators

Summary

In an “Ideal” nuclear electromagnetic pulse simulator, the pulse incident on the test object should be a “pure” transverse electromagnetic wave with a near‐planar wave front, as in free‐space propagation. In a bounded‐wave simulator, scattering from different parts of the simulator structure, reflection from the termination, and the finite size of the structure, can lead to the excitation of higher order transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes. This chapter describes the computational model, focusing on the singular value decomposition (SVD) method and its application to modal analysis. The SVD technique does not impose any constraint upon the shapes of the eigenmodes. The chapter examines the mode structure inside the simulator in the absence of a test object. It discusses the increase in electric field in the gap between the test object and the top and bottom plates.