Development of Micro-Magnetron for Terahertz Imaging Applications

Famous scientist Freeman Dyson states that most of the scientific developments are tools and instruments driven. For instance, X-rays, as a scientific tool was discovered by Roentgen using Lenard's vacuum tube. Apart from the significant scientific breakthrough and discoveries, the technological advancement of tools is needed to serve the growing demands in communication, healthcare, security and manufacturing industries. Medical imaging applications from cancerous cells diagnostic to teeth caries, space applications from the universe exploration to upper atmosphere studies, homeland security applications to identify persons with concealed arms, and industrial applications such as non-destructive testing can be made possible with non-ionising, high bandwidth THz frequencies. Despite these advantages, A THZ gap exists between electronics and photonics. Compact electron devices are needed to exploit these potential advantages. With the collisionless propagation nature of an electron beam, the micro vacuum electron devices generate higher power per unit volume than solid-state devices and Lasers. From the victory of World War II to present daily services in our kitchen, magnetron tube has given unbeatable performance at many scientific and industrial fronts.With these motivations, we put this veteran magnetron tube on THz fronts in the current proposal. The THz micro-magnetron is proposed to serve medical imaging and RADAR applications for homeland security, earthquakes evacuation, material investigation.The EM wave power generation with a high degree of compactness will be turned into an innovative solution as listed: 1. With a non-ionising nature, the THz micro-magnetron based system is an economical alternative for medical imaging, including various cancer diagnostic 2. A portable standoff device for the detection of concealed arms at crowded places. 3. Highly suitable for restricted payload environments such as space-borne RADAR and UAV-enabled 3D imaging RADAR.