On the analysis of modes in a closed electromagnetic waveguide

Modal expansions are useful to understand wave propagation in an infinite closed electromagnetic artificial boundary conditions for truncating a computational domain when discretizing the field by finite elements. The modes of a waveguide arise as eigenfunctions of a non-symmetric eigenvalue problem, and the eigenvalues determine the propagation (or decay) of the modes along the waveguide. For the successful use of waveguide modes, it is necessary to know that the modes exist and form a dense set in a suitable function space containing the trace of the electric field in the waveguide. This paper is devoted to proving such a density result using the methods of Keldysh. We also show that the modes satisfy a useful orthogonality property, and show how the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map can be calculated. Our existence and density results are proved under realistic regularity assumptions on the cross section of the waveguide, and the electromagnetic properties of the materials in the waveguide, so generalizing existing results.