Electromagnetic Resonances of a Straight Wire

Abstract

With an interest in finding wires and distinguishing them from other electrically conducting objects, we have looked for an electromagnetic “fingerprint” in terms of resonances of a straight wire of length 2h and radius a. The resonances of the wire are formulated using the theory of the linear antenna, leading to an integral equation for the current on the wire. Complex-valued resonant frequencies are defined as those for which the homogeneous integral equation for the current on the wire has non-zero solutions. By applying a variational technique we obtain approximate numerical solutions for the resonant frequencies and their widths. A table of the first five resonances is given for several ratios of wire half-length h to wire radius a. In a subsequent paper we propose to extend the method described here to deal with wires on an earth-air interface, for example as used to command the detonation of improvised explosive devices.