Date: February 2022
Amount: $250,000

Microwave antennas are becoming increasingly difficult to design, optimize and calibrate as they become fully integrated with amplifiers for beam-steerable antennas. The Colorado School of Mines (aka “Mines”) seeks to improve the way engineers design microwave antennas by developing new measurement techniques that allow visualization of the electromagnetic fields surrounding and within the circuit. Currently, there are electro-optic measurement tehniques to measure electric fields, but these techniques don’t yield any information about the high-frequency magnetic fields. To measure the magnetic fields, Mines will develop magneto-optical probing methods.

This grant makes it possible to establish a new electromagnetic field imaging center at Mines. The integrated electro-magneto-optical measurement system for high-frequency electromagnetic fields will not only enable microwave designers to design better antenna systems, it will also help them optimize high-frequency circuit deisgns using meta-materials and improve waveform engineering. The center will also be a boon to Mines’ students, as it will enable them to better understand the fields that they are studying. ARDC’s grant will be used for equipment purchases and to hire a student PhD researcher who will be awarded an ARDC Fellowship.

Learn more at: https://www.mines.edu