Microwave propagation in a waveguide containing a semiconductor to which is applied a steady transverse magnetic field

The paper discusses results of an experimental investigation into microwave propagation at 10Gc/s through a rectangular waveguide partially filled by a thin semiconducting plate, extending in the E plane about one third of a wavelength along the guide, and having a superimposed transverse steady magnetic field of flux densities up to 0.45 Wb/m2 The plates used were either germanium (n-type and p-type) or indium arsenide (n-type), each of thickness comparable to the skin depth of the corresponding semiconductor and of height slightly less than the narrow dimension of the waveguide. The applied transverse steady magnetic field was found to produce a change in the conductivity of the plate and a corresponding effect on the microwave propagation along the guide. Nonreciprocal transmission arising from asymmetry of the semiconductor over the cross-section of the guide was also observed, and this has been analysed qualitatively.