Eigenmodes for electromagnetic waves propagating in a toroidal cavity

A solution has been attempted by means of the Helmholtz equation for an electromagnetic wave propagating in an empty torus in a system of toroidal coordinates. The electromagnetic fields are expressed in terms of the Hertz vector to obtain a scalar Helmholtz equation. The latter has been solved by making use of an inverse aspect ratio expansion of the solution. Unlike most previous workers, the authors have obtained their solutions in terms of hypergeometric functions whose static limit is the toroidal harmonics. The cylindrical solutions in terms of Bessel functions can also be recovered by taking the appropriate large aspect ratio limit. The eigenmodes, with arbitrary toroidal and poloidal mode numbers, have been obtained by applying the boundary conditions on the metallic walls of infinite conductivity, and they cannot be distinguished as TE or TM modes. Eigenfrequencies for various toroidal and poloidal mode numbers are plotted against the inverse aspect ratio. First-order approximations to the fields in the toroidal cavity have also been derived