Collaborative GOALI Proposal: Self-Assembled Arrays of Rare-earth Sulfide Nanowires for Traveling Wave Tube Applications

目的与方法：本研究的目的是合成有序的自组装稀土硫化纳米线阵列。这将导致具有低功函数（~ 1 eV）和高熔点（~ 2000℃）的高效场发射体密集阵列。它们将能够在低阈值电压下提供数十A/sq-cm，并将用于工业合作伙伴生产的行波管。该方法包括脉冲激光将组成材料沉积到10纳米大小的多孔氧化铝孔中，并在工业合作伙伴的设施中进行测试。广泛的影响是多种多样的。商业影响是在冷阴极技术领域，在无线系统中有应用，包括手机、基站、卫星通信、平板显示器等。教育方面的影响体现在研究生的培养，以及通过里士满地区工程少数民族项目（弗吉尼亚）向大多数非裔美国9年级和12年级学生推广的努力，以及通过辛辛那提的少数民族工程师项目向其他代表性不足的群体推广的努力。制造方法是环保的，经济/社会影响是在微波产品的高科技领域创造就业机会。

Objective and approach:The objective of this research is to synthesize well ordered self assembled arrays of rare earth sulfide nanowires. This will result in dense arrays of highly efficient field emitters that have low work function (~ 1 eV) and high melting point (~ 2000 C). They will be capable of delivering several tens of A/sq-cm at low threshold voltages and will be used in traveling wave tubes produced by the industrial partner.The approach involves pulsed laser deposition of the constituent materials into 10-nm sized pores of porous alumina and testing them at the facilities of the industrial partner.The broad impacts are varied. The commercial impact is in the field of cold cathode technology that has applications in wireless systems including cell phones, base stations, satellite communications, flat panel displays, etc. The educational impact is in the training of graduate students as well as outreach efforts to mostly African American 9th and 12th graders through the Richmond Area Program for Minorities in Engineering (at Virginia) and to other under-represented groups though the Ethnic Engineers program at Cincinnati. The fabrication method is environment friendly and the economic/societal impact is in job creation in the high tech area of microwave products.