Electromagnetic Waves Series 47

The book discusses homogenisation principles and mixing

rules for the determination of the macroscopic dielectric and
magnetic properties of different types of media. The effects
of structure and anisotropy are discussed in detail, as well
as mixtures involving chiral and nonlinear materials. Highfrequency scattering phenomena and dispersive properties
are also discussed.
The book includes analysis of special phenomena that the
mixing process can cause, such as the difference in character
between a mixture and its constituent parts. Mixing results
are applied to different materials in geophysics and biology.
Reference is also made to the historical perspectives of
dielectric modelling. Examples are included throughout the
text.
Aimed at students with research interests in electromagnetics
or materials science, the book is also useful as a textbook
in universities, as a handbook of mixing principles, and as a
sourcebook for composite material design.

Ari Sihvola is Professor of Electromagnetics at Helsinki

University of Technology with research interests in
electromagnetic theory, complex media, materials modelling,
remote sensing, and radar applications. He is Vice-Chairman
of the Finnish National Committee of URSI (International
Union of Radio Science) and served as the Secretary of the
22nd European Microwave Conference, held in August 1992
in Espoo, Finland.
Ari received the degrees of Diploma Engineer in 1981,
Licentiate of Technology in 1984 and Doctor of Technology in
1987, all in Electrical Engineering, from the Helsinki University
of Technology, Finland. Besides working for HUT and the
Academy of Finland, he was visiting engineer at the Research
Laboratory of Electronics at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in 19851986, and a visiting scientist at
Pennsylvania State University in 19901991. In 1996, he
was visiting scientist at Lund University, Sweden.

Sihvola

The Institution of Engineering and Technology

www.theiet.org
0 85296 772 1
978-0-85296-772-0

Electromagnetic Mixing Formulas and Applications

Electromagnetic Mixing Formulas

and Applications

Electromagnetic
Mixing Formulas
and Applications
Ari Sihvola

IET Electromagnetic Waves Series 47

Series Editors: Professor P.J.B. Clarricoats
Professor E.V. Jull

Electromagnetic
Mixing Formulas
and Applications

Other volumes in this series:

Geometrical theory of diffraction for electromagnetic waves, 3rd edition
G.L.James
Volume 10 Aperture antennas and diffraction theory E.V. Jull
Volume 11 Adaptive array principles J.E. Hudson
Volume 12 Microstrip antenna theory and design J.R. James, P.S. Hall and C. Wood
Volume 15 The handbook of antenna design, volume 1 A.W. Rudge, K. Milne, A.D.Oliver
and P.Knight (Editors)
Volume 16 The handbook of antenna design, volume 2 A.W. Rudge, K. Milne, A.D. Oliver
and P.Knight (Editors)
Volume 18 Corrugated horns for microwave antennas P.J.B. Clarricoats and A.D. Oliver
Volume 19 Microwave antenna theory and design S. Silver (Editor)
Volume 21 Waveguide handbook N. Marcuvitz
Volume 23 Ferrites at microwave frequencies A.J. Baden Fuller
Volume 24 Propagation of short radio waves D.E. Kerr (Editor)
Volume 25 Principles of microwave circuits C.G. Montgomery, R.H. Dicke and E.M.Purcell
(Editors)
Volume 26 Spherical near-field antenna measurements J.E. Hansen (Editor)
Volume 28 Handbook of microstrip antennas, 2 volumes J.R. James and P.S. Hall (Editors)
Volume 31 Ionospheric radio K. Davies
Volume 32 Electromagnetic waveguides: theory and applications S.F. Mahmoud
Volume 33 Radio direction finding and superresolution, 2nd edition P.J.D. Gething
Volume 34 Electrodynamic theory of superconductors S.A. Zhou
Volume 35 VHF and UHF antennas R.A. Burberry
Volume 36 Propagation, scattering and diffraction of electromagnetic waves
A.S.Ilyinski, G.Ya.Slepyan and A. Ya.Slepyan
Volume 37 Geometrical theory of diffraction V.A. Borovikov and B.Ye. Kinber
Volume 38 Analysis of metallic antenna and scatterers B.D. Popovic and B.M.Kolundzija
Volume 39 Microwave horns and feeds A.D. Olver, P.J.B. Clarricoats, A.A. Kishk and L.Shafai
Volume 41 Approximate boundary conditions in electromagnetics T.B.A. Senior and
J.L.Volakis
Volume 42 Spectral theory and excitation of open structures V.P. Shestopalov and
Y.Shestopalov
Volume 43 Open electromagnetic waveguides T. Rozzi and M. Mongiardo
Volume 44 Theory of nonuniform waveguides: the cross-section method
B.Z.Katsenelenbaum, L. Mercader Del Rio, M. Pereyaslavets, M. Sorella Ayza and
M.K.A. Thumm
Volume 45 Parabolic equation methods for electromagnetic wave propagation M.Levy
Volume 46 Advanced electromagnetic analysis of passive and active planar structures
T.Rozzi and M. Farinai
Volume 47 Electromagnetic mixing formulas and applications A. Sihvola
Volume 48 Theory and design of microwave filters I.C. Hunter
Volume 49 Handbook of ridge waveguides and passive components J.Helszajn
Volume 50 Channels, propagation and antennas for mobile communications
R.Vaughan and J. Bach-Anderson
Volume 51 Asymptotic and hybrid methods in electromagnetics F. Molinet, I.Andronov
and D.Bouche
Volume 52 Thermal microwave radiation: applications for remote sensing
C.Matzler(Editor)
Volume 53 Principles of planar near-field antenna measurements S. Gregson,
J. McCormick and C. Parini
Volume 502 Propagation of radiowaves, 2nd edition L.W. Barclay (Editor)

Volume 1

Electromagnetic
Mixing Formulas
and Applications
Ari Sihvola

The Institution of Engineering and Technology

Published by The Institution of Engineering and Technology, London, United Kingdom

First edition 1999 The Institution of Electrical Engineers
Reprint with new cover 2008 The Institution of Engineering and Technology
First published 1999
Reprinted 2008
This publication is copyright under the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright
Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research
or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in
the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued
by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those
terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:
The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Michael Faraday House
Six Hills Way, Stevenage
Herts, SG1 2AY, United Kingdom
www.theiet.org
While the author and the publishers believe that the information and guidance given
in this work are correct, all parties must rely upon their own skill and judgement when
making use of them. Neither the author nor the publishers assume any liability to
anyone for any loss or damage caused by any error or omission in the work, whether
such error or omission is the result of negligence or any other cause. Any and all such
liability is disclaimed.
The moral right of the author to be identified as author of this work have been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN (10 digit) 0 85296 772 1
ISBN (13 digit) 978-0-85296-772-0

Printed in the UK by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

Reprinted in the UK by Lightning Source UK Ltd, Milton Keynes

Contents

Preface

xi

1 Introduction
1.1 The philosophy of homogenisation of mixtures
1.2 Historical background
1.3 Literature
1.4 Outline of the book
References

1
1
5
9
11
12

1 To observe the pattern:

Classical and neoclassical mixing

17

2 Physics behind the dielectric constant

2.1 Polarisation phenomena in matter
2.2 Conduction and complex permittivity
2.2.1 Field relations
2.2.2 Time-harmonic fields
2.2.3 Dispersion
2.2.4 Complex resistivity
2.3 Higher-order polarisation mechanisms
2.3.1 Anisotropy and multipole moments
2.3.2 Magnetic polarisation
2.3.3 Other polarisation effects
Problems
References

19
19
23
23
25
26
28
29
29
30
32
35
36

vi

Contents

3 Classical mixing approach

3.1 Average fields and Maxwell Garnett rule
3.2 Polarisability of dielectric sphere
3.2.1 Polarisability and dipole moment
3.2.2 Consistency of the field solutions
3.2.3 Dipole moment as solution for the external problem
3.3 Mixture with spherical inclusions
3.3.1 Clausius-Mossotti formula
3.3.2 Maxwell Garnett mixing rule
3.3.3 Q2 function for mixture analysis
3.4 Discussion on basic field concepts
3.4.1 Macroscopic and microscopic fields
3.4.2 Shape of the cavity in a crystal
3.4.3 The internal dipoles
3.4.4 Alternative routes to Maxwell Garnett formula
Problems
References

39
40
41
41
42
44
45
45
47
49
51
52
55
56
57
58
59

4 Advanced mixing principles

4.1 Multiphase mixtures
4.2 Ellipsoidal inclusions
4.2.1 Depolarisation factors
4.2.2 Polarisability components of an ellipsoid
4.2.3 Aligned orientation
4.2.4 Random orientation
4.2.5 Orientation distribution
4.3 Inhomogeneous inclusions
4.3.1 Polarisability of a layered sphere
4.3.2 Continuously inhomogeneous inclusions
4.3.3 Nonhomogeneous ellipsoids
4.4 Lossy materials
Problems
References

61
61
63
63
66
67
68
70
71
72
75
78
79
82
84

5 Anisotropic mixtures
5.1 Anisotropy in dielectric materials
5.2 Elementary dyadic analysis
5.2.1 Notation and definitions
5.2.2 Operations and invariants

85
85
88
88
90

Contents

vii

5.2.3 Examples
5.3 Polarisability of anisotropic sphere
5.3.1 Reinterpretation of scalar polarisability
5.3.2 Depolarisation and the shape effect
5.4 Mixtures with anisotropic inclusions
5.5 Mixtures with anisotropic background medium
5.5.1 Affine transformation
5.5.2 Internal field and polarisability
5.5.3 Homogenisation
Problems
References

93
94
94
97
101
102
102
103
105
107
110

6 Chiral and bi-anisotropic mixtures

6.1 Bi-anisotropic materials
6.1.1 Bi-anisotropic constitutive relations
6.1.2 Dissipation and reciprocity
6.1.3 Renormalisation of field quantities
6.2 Six-vector algebra
6.3 Chiral mixtures
6.3.1 Chiral and bi-isotropic materials
6.3.2 Polarisability of chiral sphere
6.3.3 Chiral Maxwell Garnett mixing formula
6.3.4 Example: a racemic mixture
6.4 Bi-anisotropic mixtures
6.4.1 Polarisability of a bi-anisotropic sphere
6.4.2 Bi-anisotropic mixing rules
Problems
References

113
113
114
115
116
117
119
119
121
122
123
125
126
126
127
128

7 Nonlinear mixtures
7.1 The characterisation of nonlinearity
7.1.1 Examples of nonlinear mechanisms in matter
7.1.2 Nonlinear susceptibilities
7.1.3 Quadratic and cubic nonlinearities
7.2 Mixing rules for nonlinear materials
7.2.1 Polarisability components for a nonlinear sphere
7.2.2 Dilute mixtures
7.2.3 Towards denser mixtures
7.2.4 Nonlinearity as perturbation to permittivity

131
131
131
133
135
136
136
138
139
140

viii

Contents
7.3 Characteristics of nonlinear mixtures
Problems
References

II

To transgress the pattern:

Functionalistic and modernist mixing

141
142
143

145

8 Difficulties and uncertainties in classical mixing

8.1 Weak links in the mixing rule derivation
8.1.1 Interaction between the scatterers
8.1.2 Quasi-static approximation
8.1.3 Correlation length
8.2 Limits for the effective permittivity
8.2.1 General bounds
8.2.2 Hashin-Shtrikman bounds
8.2.3 Higher-order bounds
8.2.4 Anisotropic bounds
Problems
References

147
148
148
150
151
151
152
153
156
156
157
158

9 Generalised mixing rules

9.1 Bruggeman formula
9.2 Coherent potential formula
9.3 Unified mixing rule
9.3.1 Spherical inclusions
9.3.2 Ellipsoidal inclusions
9.4 Other mixing models
9.4.1 Power-law models
9.4.2 Differential mixing models
9.4.3 Periodical lattice models
9.4.4 Random medium model
9.5 Chiral and bi-anisotropic mixtures
9.6 Numerical approaches for homogenisation
Problems
References

161
161
163
164
164
164
166
166
167
168
169
169
170
172
174

10 Towards higher frequencies

10.1 Rayleigh scattering contribution
10.1.1 Rayleigh scattering of a single inclusion

177
178
178

Contents
10.1.2 Rayleigh attenuation
10.2 Mie scattering
10.3 Scattering in random media
10.3.1 Quasi-crystalline approximation
10.3.2 Size-dependent polarisability approach
Problems
References

ix
181
184
188
188
189
191
192

11 Dispersion and time-domain analysis

11.1 Constitutive relations as operators
11.2 Susceptibility models
11.2.1 Debye model
11.2.2 Lorentz model
11.2.3 Drude model
11.2.4 Modified Debye model
11.2.5 Other susceptibility models
11.3 Mixing in time domain
11.3.1 Quasi-static time-domain
fields
11.3.2 Deconvolution of kernels
11.3.3 A mixture of two Debye materials
11.4 Temporal dispersion in anisotropic and chiral materials
Problems
References

195
196
198
198
200
201
202
203
203
204
205
206
208
212
213

12 Special phenomena caused by mixing

12.1 Dispersion of the permittivity of mixtures
12.1.1 Water and polar molecules
12.1.2 Metals and Drude dispersion
12.2 Polarisation enhancement
12.2.1 Mossotti catastrophe
12.2.2 Onsager model
12.2.3 Single scattering and Frohlich modes
12.3 Percolation
12.3.1 Generalised mixing rule
12.3.2 Effect of spatial dimension
Problems
References

215
215
215
218
219
220
222
223
226
226
228
232
232

Contents

13 Applications to natural materials

13.1 Water and ice
13.1.1 Free and bound water
13.1.2 Ice
13.2 Snow
13.2.1 Dry snow
13.2.2 Wet snow
13.3 Rocks and soil
13.3.1 Porous bedrock
13.3.2 Soil
13.4 Rain attenuation
13.5 Wood, trees, and canopies
13.6 Biological tissues
Problems
References

235
235
235
237
239
239
242
244
245
247
249
252
254
257
258

14 Concluding remarks

261

Appendixes
A Collection of dyadic relations
B Collection of basic mixing rules

265
265
267

Index

271

Preface

Throughout my working life I have been interested in heterogeneous materials and

their properties. Mixtures are fascinating. It is impossible to give an exhaustive
structural description of a sample of random medium. And yet in engineering applications problems have to be faced and solved which involve nondeterminately
inhomogeneous media.
For these reasons and others, writing a book on electromagnetics of mixtures is
not a straightforward task. Logic cannot uniquely predetermine the structure and
direction of the text. What is my strategy? I have tried to begin the discussion with
simple, idealised models and basic physics. Then I proceed to more complicated
analysis. Finally, admitting that increasing the complexity in analysis is not sufficient, I present empirical mixing results and applications. Two groups of readers
will be disappointed: on one hand those who would have wanted to find a rigorous
full-wave analysis of the random medium problem, and on the other those who are
looking for easy-to-use recipes for practical materials.
It has been difficult to decide, during the writing process, to what extent I
should reference other literature. Most of the contents of the chapters have grown
from my own studies of heterogeneous materials. Of course I have studied reports
that my colleagues and rivals have published, and harvested their results. But I do
not claim to have read all that has been written on a topic as vast as the modelling
of electromagnetic materials. Therefore, I have included, for the most part, only
citations to the latest scientific results. This book is primarily meant to be used as
a textbook (I have included as exercises many problems that I have solved myself,
and some that I would like to see someone else solve), and I have consciously set a
limit to the number of references.
I feel grateful to many people with whom I have been working in electromagnetics
and related fields, both in Finland and internationally. Much of this co-operation
is reflected on the pages of the present book. In particular, I wish to thank Ismo
Lindell. He encouraged me in the writing process.

xii Preface
In the preparation of the book I received practical help from Juha Avelin, Sami
Ilvonen, Reena Sharma, and Sergei Tretyakov, my colleagues at the Electromagnetics
Laboratory of the Helsinki University of Technology. Many library officers of our
university assisted me in locating historical articles.
Christian Matzler has kindly reviewed the manuscript to its considerable benefit.
I would also like to thank the staff of IEE Publishing for their professionality and
experience which greatly improved the text and its appearance.
The people of my childhood home and the members of my family have been a
source of support. It is sad that my father is no longer here to share my joy for the
completion of the manuscript. Let this book be dedicated to the memory of Heikki
Sihvola.

Espoo, August 1999

Ari Sihvola