ELECTROMAGNETIC-WAVE PROPAGATION ON A TAPE HELIX LOADED WITH DIELECTRICS

Properties of the electromagnetic wave propagation on a tape helix loaded with dielectric/dielectrics, including a biological medium have been investigated. For this, general dispersion relations for the two types of loading are obtained for different spatial harmonics. The analysis is applicable for both low and high dielectric constant materials including biological medium. The variations in wavelength and attenuation constant with frequency, permittivity of dielectric material/biological medium and cross-sectional dimension of the helical structure have been studied. The theoretical results for the propagation constant obtained by using tape helix model for the azimuthally symmetric mode (n=0) and for a wire helix loaded with a phantom biological medium of known dielectric constant are compared with experimental results and with those obtained theoretically employing sheath helix model at 2.45 and 2.55 GHz.