Development of a W-band gyro-amplifier for high power, wideband pulsed coherent applications

该项目将巩固我们在开发新型高功率、宽带毫米波放大器方面的技术，与目前用于脉冲相干应用（如雷达、磁共振、安全成像和遥感）的放大器相比，该放大器的可用带宽增加了10倍，可用峰值功率增加了5倍。它将为这些应用带来阶段性的变化，这项研究的成功将对全球产生巨大的技术影响，并为英国带来巨大的经济效益。该提案是斯特拉斯克莱德大学和圣安德鲁斯大学两个主要毫米波小组之间的合作，他们在高功率毫米波源、雷达、仪器和组件的开发方面共同拥有数十年的经验和充满活力的国际声誉，以及在商业化、工业合作和交付项目目标方面的良好记录。陀螺放大器代表了一项核心技术，很可能使英国在高功率毫米波雷达领域处于领先地位。基于这种陀螺放大器技术的脉冲电子顺磁共振（EPR）和动态核极化（DNP）增强核磁共振（NMR）仪器将从根本上提高灵敏度。EPR和DNP增强核磁共振（包括脉冲DNP-核磁共振的可能性以及相位和幅度调制的使用）实验将产生绝对世界领先的研究。它将有力地增强英国在广泛的学术研究领域的世界领先地位，包括物理、化学、生物、工程和医学。基于这种放大器的大气传感和空间碎片跟踪将能够远程监测云、气溶胶、降水（因此能够建立更好的全球气候和污染模型，以便更好地预测天气和污染、更好地管理自然资源和减轻自然灾害）和跟踪空间碎片（提高空间旅行和卫星发射的安全性）。这将导致更高的雷达灵敏度，使测量更小或更纤细的颗粒，更精细的分辨率，在更远的距离或更短的时间尺度。该技术还具有应用于空间碎片地面测绘的潜力，这是包括环境监测卫星在内的所有轨道系统的一个主要考虑因素。在100 GHz到1THz频率范围内，数百瓦的高功率陀螺仪放大器将允许远距离、实时视频速率安全成像和传感，实现高分辨率3D成像和高灵敏度传感，大多数隐藏违禁品，如爆炸物、非法药物、化学和生物材料。该项目有可能颠覆现有基于x射线的安全市场的很大一部分。斯特拉斯克莱德大学的研究团队在“太赫兹放大”领域处于世界领先地位，可以通过与英国广泛的太赫兹成像和传感社区和行业合作来实现应用。

The project will consolidate our technology in developing a new class of high power, wideband millimetre wave amplifier which offers a ten-fold increase in available bandwidth and a five-fold increase in available peak power over the amplifiers used in current pulsed coherent applications such as radar, magnetic resonance, security imaging and remote sensing. It will bring step changes to these applications and the success of this research will have a huge worldwide technological impact and offer tremendous economic benefit to the UK. The proposal is a collaboration between two major millimetre wave groups at the University of Strathclyde and the University of St Andrews who collectively have decades of experience and vibrant international reputations in the development of high power millimetre wave sources, radars, instrumentation and components, plus a strong track record in commercialisation, industrial collaboration, and delivering on project objectives. The gyro-amplifier represents a core technology that is likely to lead to UK leadership in the field of high power millimetre wave radar.Pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) enhanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instruments based on this gyro-amplifier technology will result in radically improved sensitivities. The EPR and DNP enhanced NMR (including the possibility of pulsed DNP-NMR and the use of phase and amplitude modulation) experiments will give rise to absolutely world-leading research. It will strongly enhance the UK's position as a world leader in a wide range of academic research areas, including physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and medicine.Atmospheric sensing and space debris tracking based on such an amplifier will allow long range monitoring of clouds, aerosols, precipitation (therefore enabling better global climate and pollution models for better prediction of weather and pollution, better management of natural resources and mitigation of natural hazards) and tracking of space debris (increasing safety for space travel and satellite launching). This will lead to greater radar sensitivity, enabling measurement of smaller or more tenuous particulates, with finer resolution, at longer ranges or in a shorter timescale. The technology also has the potential to be applied to the ground based mapping of space debris, a major consideration for all orbiting systems including environmental monitoring satellites.The high power capability of hundreds watts of the gyro-amplifier in the hundred GHz to 1THz frequency range will allow standoff, real time video rate security imaging and sensing enabling high resolution 3D imaging and highly sensitive sensing of most hidden contrabands such as explosives, illegal drugs and chemical and biological materials. The project has the potential to disrupt a large fraction of the existing X-ray based security market. The research team at Strathclyde is a world leader in this "terahertz amplification" area and can realise the application pull through collaborating with wide UK terahertz imaging and sensing community and industries.