Millimeter-Waves: The Vision for the Future - From Electrons to Volcanoes

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How can the same sort of light be used to interact with objects as different in size and scale as an electronand a volcano? What can you tell by looking at electrons anyway? How can nuclear fusion solve the 21stcentury energy crisis? How do state of the art security scanners work and what can they see? How do youobserve how a volcano is changing underneath cloud or smoke? What technology is used to build car radarfor cruise control or collision avoidance? How can we see how stars form in the outer reaches of the galaxyor understand what the Universe looked like after the Big Bang?Millimetre wave technology, a significant but little known area of Physics research, lies at the heart of ourability to do all of this and more. This project aims to convey the incredible range of imaging and sensingprovided by mm-wave technology to as wide a cross section of the public as possible, targeting audiencesthat would not normally be associated with science outreach. Our proposal seeks to deliver a high impactmajor public education program on technologies and applications associated with these very high frequencymicrowaves - in the mm-wave and sub-mm-wave regime. This area of the electromagnetic spectrum hasseen substantial funding from the research councils and is central to many topical areas of science andsociety. The program will build on a previous highly rated PPE project where a substantial amount oflecture material, demonstration equipment, video footage, teaching material, interactive exhibits and schoolworkshops were developed and enhanced over a 2 year period.There are three principal aims to this project: (1) a fresh remit to reach non 'self-selecting' audiences usingstate of the art research imagery and live demonstrations of mm-wave radar; (2) introduce the majorscience research topic and industrial application of magnetic resonance; (3) deliver a stand-alone interactiveexhibition of all this material to achieve long term sustainability in our outreach mission.