Circulator using Ferrites Material for

Microwave Engineering Applications

Tejaskumar M. Gojariya , Thakur
College Of Engineering &
Technology,(M.E. EXTC),Mumbai
University,India
tmgojariya@gmail.com

Ronik R. Doshi, Thakur College Of

Engineering & Technology,(M.E.
EXTC),Mumbai University,India
ronikdoshi@gmail.com

Abstract This paper presents a study of ferrite materials

and their use in Microwave Engineering as Circulators.

Ferromagnetic compounds like YIG (Yttrium Iron Garnet)
boast of electric anisotropy (tensor permittivity) and
magnetic anisotropy (tensor permeability). In essence,
ferrites show a highly non-reciprocal behavior i.e. response
of the material in the microwave region depends on the
direction of the signal flow. This property of ferrites allows
for its use as devices with directional properties like
directional couplers, isolators, gyrators and circulators. In
this study, we will be focusing solely on how ferrites are
used as circulators. We will be starting with the basic
composition and properties of ferrite that enable their use
as circulators. Then we will be proceeding to one of the
types of circulators, which are Strip line junction circulator
and the derivations related to its properties, behavior and
working.
Index Terms - Ferrites, circulators, anisotropic materials, nonreciprocal behavior;

I. INTRODUCTION
Most of the components and networks used in RF and
MW applications are reciprocal, i.e. response of the
component between any two ports i and j remains same
independent of the direction of signal flow. Thus, S ij=Sji.
This behavior, however, is exhibited due to the materials
used in the fabrication of the components being passive and
isotropic. The same does not hold true for materials that are
anisotropic and hence show non-reciprocal behavior, i.e. the
properties exhibited by the material changes depending on
the direction of the signal flow. The most practical
anisotropic materials for microwave applications are
ferromagnetic compounds such as YIG and ferrites
composed of iron oxides and various other elements such as
aluminum, cobalt, manganese and nickel.
As opposed to ferromagnetic materials (i.e. iron, steel),
ferromagnetic compounds have very high resistivity and
anisotropy at microwave frequencies. The magnetic
anisotropy of a ferromagnetic material is actually induced
by applying a DC magnetic bias field. This field aligns the
magnetic dipoles in the ferrite material to produce a net
(nonzero) magnetic dipole moment, and causes the
magnetic dipoles to process at a frequency controlled by the
strength of the bias field. A microwave signal circularly
polarized in the same direction as this precession will
interact strongly with the dipole moments, while an

Raghupati R. Tiwari, Thakur College

Of Engineering & Technology,(M.E.
EXTC),Mumbai University,India
raghu29tiwari@gmail.com

oppositely polarized field will interact less strongly. Since,

for a given direction of rotation, the sense of polarization
changes with the direction of propagation, a microwave
signal will propagate through a ferrite differently in
different directions [1].This effect can be utilized to
fabricate directional devices such as circulators, gyrators,
phase shifters, etc.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Circulators work on the principle of FARADAY
ROTATION.[2] According to this theory, if a TEM wave
that is linearly polarized with respect to the x axis and is
propagating in the z direction, the plane of propagation
rotates as it propagates. However, if the direction of
propagation is reversed, even then the plane of propagation
continues to rotate in the same direction. Thus the ferrites
are used to rotate the plane of propagation of the wave as it
moves along the ferrite in such a way that at one end, the
load is matched while at the other end, it is perfectly
mismatched to produce complete reflection.
From the graphs shown, one can infer that the direction
of the Faraday rotation is different in the two regions below
and above the resonant frequency. This behavior is used in
ferrite components to make them directional.

Fig. 1(a) Real and Imaginary components of permeability for a

circularly polarized wave in a ferrite as a function of /. [3]

A. Properties of Imperfectly Matched (Mismatched)

Circulators
We will first discuss the properties of an imperfectly
matched circulator in terms of its scattering matrix. The
operation of a waveguide circulator is similar in principle.
If we assume that a circulator has circular symmetry around
its three ports and is lossless, but not perfectly matched,
then its scattering matrix can be written as:

S=

]
(0)

Fig. 1 (b) Propagation and Attenuation constants for circularly

polarized wave in ferrites with parameters given in above fig.
(=10) [3]

This property of the ferrites to employ Faraday rotation

allows them to be used as not only circulators but also
isolators and gyrators.
III. CIRCULATORS
Circulators are multiport devices, (usually with 3 or
more ports), with all ports except one terminated in
matched loads. The input impedance of the remaining port
is equal to the characteristic impedance of the input line and
hence presents a matched load. The circulator is made such
that the wave incident in port 1 is coupled into port 2 only;
wave incident in port 2 is coupled into port 3 only, and so
on. A 4-port circulator can thus be constructed using two
magic Ts or hybrid junctions and a gyrator.
The scattering matrix of an ideal circulator is given as
follows:

[ ]

0 0 1
S= 1 0 0
0 1 0

(0)

This shows that power can flow from port 1 to port 2,

port 2 to port 3, and port 3 to port 1, but not in the reverse
direction. By transposing the port indices, the opposite
circularity can be obtained. In practice, this result can be
produced by changing the polarity of the ferrite bias field.
Most circulators use permanent magnets for the bias field,
but if electromagnet is used the circulator can operate in a
latching mode as a single-pole double-throw (SPDT)
switch. The circulator can also be used as an isolator by
terminating one of the ports with a matched load.

Fig. 2 An Isolator constructed using a gyrator and two

quadrature hybrid junction. The forward wave is passed while
the reverse wave is absorbed by the first hybrid.

Since the circulator is assumed lossless, [S] must be

unitary, which implies the following two conditions:
2

|| +| | +|| =1
(3)

+ + =0
(4)

If the circulator were matched (i.e. =0), then Eq.(2.2)

shows that either =0 and ||=1, or =0 and ||=1; this
describes the ideal circulator with its two possible
circularity states. However, it must be observed that this
condition depends only on lossless and matched device.
Now assuming small imperfections, such that ||<<1. In
short, consider the circularity state where power flows
primarily in the 1-2-3 direction, so that || is close to unity
and || is small. Then ~ 0, and Eq.(2.3) shows that * +
* 0 , so ||||. Then Eq.(2.2) shows that ||2 1-2||2
1-2||2. Then the scattering matrix can be written as:

1 2
S= 1 2

]
(5)

Ignoring phase factors, this result shows that circular

polarization , and transmission, 1-2, both factors

deteriorate as the input ports become mismatched.
B. Strip Line Junction Circulator
The Strip line junction circulator is as shown in the fig.
3(a) & 3(b). Two ferrite disks fill the space between the
central metallic disk and the ground plane of the stripline.
These strip lines are attached to the periphery of the center
disk at 120 interval, forming the three ports of the junction
circulator. The DC bias field is applied normal to the
ground planes[3].

C.Operation
In operation, the ferrite disks form a resonant cavity; in
the absence of a bias field, this cavity has a single lowestorder resonant mode with cos (or sin) dependence.
When the ferrite is biased this mode breaks into two
resonant modes with slightly different resonant frequencies.
The operating frequency of the circulator can then be
chosen so that the superposition of these two modes add at
the output port and cancel at the isolated port.[4][5]
We can utilize the junction circulator by treating it as a
thin cavity resonator with electric walls on the top and
bottom, and an approximate magnetic wall on the side.
Then Ep = E 0, and /z = 0, so we have TM modes.
Since Ez on either side of the center conducting disk is antisymmetric, we need only consider the solution for one of
the ferrite disks.
D.Mathematical Analysis
We begin by transforming, B = ||H, from rectangular to
cylindrical coordinates:

B =B x cos + B y sin
( H x + j ) k H y cos + ( jk H x + H y ) sin
H + jk H
(6)

B =B x sin + B y cos
( H x + j ) k H y cos + ( jk H x + H y ) sin
jk H + H
(7)

Fig. 3(a) Pictorial View

Thus we have,

[] []
B
H
B =[ ] H
Bz
Hz

(8)

Where [] is the tensor permeability given by:

[ ] =0 ( [ U ] + [ ] ) = jk
0

jk 0
0
0 0

]
(9)

Fig. 3 (b) Geometry

(A material having tensor permeability of this form is

called a gyrotropic.)
In circular co-ordinates, with /z = 0, Maxwells
equations reduce to the following:

1 Ez
= j ( H + jk H )

E z
= j ( jk H + H )

1 ( H) H

= j E z

H
=E z H =120 =
Pou=P1= ^ . E

E 0 H 0 sin E20 kY
=

=E z H =240 =0
Piso =P 3= ^ . E H

(15)
(10)

Solving for Hp and H in terms of Ez gives

Ez
jY Ez
+ jk
k

Ez
jY jk E z
H =
+
k

H=

(
(

Fig. 4 Magnitude of Electric field around the periphery of the

junction circulator

IV. CONCLUSION

(11)

Thus far we have studied the mechanisms behind the

working of ferrite circulators. We have also taken the
mathematical approach necessary in the understanding of
anisotropic materials and gained sufficient knowledge
regarding the behavior of ferrites and how they affect the
electric and magnetic fields under different conditions. We
also studied one of the major types of circulators, namely,
the strip line junction circulator. After going through the
entire mathematical analysis, we can conclude that power
may flow from port 1 to port 2, port 2 to port 3 and port 3 to
port 1; but the reverse is not possible. Such non-reciprocal
properties of ferrites allow them to be utilized in a vast
number of devices, of which only a few have been
mentioned so far in this paper. The non-linear properties of
ferrites at high signal levels have also been used in
harmonic generators, frequency mixers and parametric
amplifiers. As such ferrites are found in countless, if not all,
modern microwave applications and devices.

Where k2 is an effective wave number and Y is the

effective wave number. Using the above equations to
eliminate Hp and H, we get the following wave equation
for Ez:

2 E z 1 E z 1 2 E z 2
+
+
+ k E z=0
2 2 2
(12)

This equation is identical in form to that of E z for TM

mode of circular waveguide. So the general equation can be
written as

E zn=[ A +n e jn + An e jn ] J n ( k )
(13)

Solving further, we get the following solution for the

electric field and magnetic field:

E0 for =0 (port 1)
E z ( =a , )= E 0 for =120 ( port 2)
0 for =240 ( port 3)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all I would like to offer my gratitude to Dr. Vinit
Kumar Dongre for his able guidance and support. Also I
thank IEEE for providing all the necessary papers in
relevance to the subject at hand. Special thanks to Mr.
Newman, Mr. Krowne, Mr. Webb and Mr. Ping and all their
esteemed colleagues for their revolutionary work in the
field of microwave regarding ferrites. Without having
referred to their papers, this paper would have been
incomplete.

H 0 for <<
H ( =a , )= H 0 for 120 <<120 +
0 elsewhere

}
(14)

REFERENCES

Thus we can compute the power flow at the three

terminals as:

[1]
2

[2]

H
=E z H =0 = E 0 H 0 sin = E0 kY
P =P 1=^ . E

Robert E. Collin, Foundations for Microwave Engineering, Second

Edition, IEEE press, Chapter 6, pp. 468-497.
David M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, Third Edition, Wiley
publication, Chapter 9, pp. 476-482

[3]
[4]

H. S. Newman, C. M. Krowne, Analysis of Ferrite Circulators by 2D finite element and recursive Greens function techniques, IEEE
paper, ieeexplore.ieee.org, Aug. 1998.
D. C. Webb, Design and Fabrication of Low-cost Ferrite
Circulators, Microwave Conference, 1995. 25th European, 1995,
ieeexplore.ieee.org.

[5]

Ping Shi, H. How, Xu Zuo, Yoon S.D., Oliver S.A., Vittoria, C.

MMIC Circulators using Hexaferrites, Magnetics, IEEE
Transactions, Volume: 37, Issue: 4, July 2001.