In electronics and telecommunication, coupling is the desirable or undesirable transfer of energy from one medium, such as a metallic wire or an optical fiber, to another medium, including fortuitous transfer.

Also the transfer of power from one circuit segment to another. E.g., an alternating voltage may be transferred to a segment at a different direct voltage by use of a capacitor or transformer; power may be efficiently transferred to a segment with different impedance by use of a transformer.

Types of coupling

Electromagnetic coupling:

• inductive coupling, most commonly transformer coupling, also called magnetic coupling
• capacitive coupling capacitor coupling, also called electrostatic coupling
• Rf coupling
• electromagnetic interference (EMI), sometimes called radio frequency interference (Rfi), is unwanted coupling. electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) requires techniques to avoid such unwanted coupling, such as electromagnetic shielding.
• wireless energy transfer

Other kinds of energy coupling:

• acoustic coupling with a acoustic coupler
• evanescent wave coupling

See also

• antenna noise temperature
• conducted (resistive or hard-wire) coupling
• coupling loss
• directional coupler
• equilibrium length
• fiber-optic coupling
• loading coil
• shield
• list of electronics topics
• AC Coupling
• impedance matching
• impedance bridging
• decoupling

References