Teraphysics' Scientists to Describe New Developments in Terahertz Vacuum Electronic Oscillators

Teraphysics' Scientists to Describe New Developments in Terahertz Vacuum Electronic Oscillators

CLEVELAND, April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A golden coil smaller in diameter than a human hair, a glittering intricately shaped diamond pin embossed with gold and no longer than a thumbnail-these tiny structures that may represent the future of high frequency electronics will be described this week in four consecutive presentations by Carol L. Kory and James A. Dayton, Jr., doctorates in electrical engineering from Teraphysics Corporation, at the Ninth International Vacuum Electronics Conference (IVEC) in Monterey, California. Both structures are the essential components of novel 0.65-terahertz electronic oscillators under development at Teraphysics, located in Highland Heights, Ohio.

Kory, who specializes in complex electromagnetic computer simulations, will present the first two papers describing the design and predicted performance of the two devices, which are known as backward wave oscillators. Dayton, chief technology officer of Teraphysics and inventor of the devices, will follow with two presentations describing the innovative fabrication technology that has been developed to create these two oscillators.

There are several collaborators from across the country who are co-authors in one or more of the papers, including Gerald T. Mearini, founder and president of Teraphysics, who holds a doctorate in experimental physics. The other contributing co-authors and collaborating organizations are Dean Malta, Matt Lueck and Christopher Bower of RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Joseph Tabeling of Applied Diamond, Wilmington, Delaware; Scott Worthington of Hana Microdisplays, Twinsburg, Ohio; and Christopher Holland and Charles Spindt of SRI International, Menlo Park, California.

The Electron Devices Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the largest professional organization in the world, sponsors IVEC. Dayton served as the first general chair of IVEC in 2000. Kory has served as the technical program chair of IVEC in 2004 and 2008. Since 2000, IVEC has become the premier venue for the presentation of work in the field of vacuum electronics. Several government agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Army Research Office, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Air Force Office of Scientific Research, fund the terahertz device development at Teraphysics.

The immediate interests of the government funding organizations are for applications in homeland security and space research. However, the terahertz band is the only unutilized segment of the electromagnetic spectrum. Numerous additional applications in medicine, pharmacology and communications have been proposed, but have not been pursued because of the lack of a practical source of radiation in that frequency band. This development at Teraphysics seeks to fill that gap.

Both oscillators operate on the same physical principal, the interaction between an electromagnetic wave and an electron beam propagating in a vacuum. Also, both devices feature an antenna fabricated as an integral part of the device that radiates the terahertz power. Both devices utilize an innovative electron gun design that is fabricated as an integral part of the device, and both are designed for mass production. However, they are fundamentally different in the construction of the component that slows the electromagnetic wave, which must travel at the speed of light, to the speed of the relatively slow electron beam. One device uses a tiny coil of golden wire to slow the wave, while the other uses a complex comb-like structure fabricated from diamond.

Kory, who holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from Cleveland State University, began her career in vacuum electronics as a student intern in Dayton's branch at Glenn Research Center in 1992. Dayton and his colleagues at NASA have developed numerous devices for the NASA missions Cassini and Mars Observer and for the commercial communication satellite industry. Dayton, who received his doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, retired from NASA in 1998 to accept a position as director of technology at Hughes Electron Dynamics in Torrance, California. He returned to Cleveland and joined Genvac Aerospace, the predecessor of Teraphysics, in 2001. Mearini holds a doctorate in physics from Case Western Reserve University. He founded Genvac in 1994 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship under Dayton at NASA.

ABOUT TERAPHYSICS

Teraphysics Corporation (http://www.teraphysics.com/) develops powerful, efficient and compact devices that operate in the millimeter wave and terahertz bands, the only commercially untapped portion of the electro-magnetic spectrum. The Ohio-based company has engineered the world's first palm-sized terahertz signal source capable of broad application in this coveted frequency range.

Contact Gerald Mearini, president, Teraphysics Corporation, 440-646-9986.

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Source: Teraphysics Corporation

CONTACT: Gerald Mearini, president, Teraphysics Corporation,
+1-440-646-9986

Web site:

http://www.teraphysics.com/

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