The Millimeter and Submillimeter Waves Laboratory was founded in 1987 at Tufts University's Department of Electrical Engineering. The laboratory's fundamental mission is to apply advanced technology and science to develop millimeter and submillimeter wave elements and state of the art measurement techniques for precision measurement of electromagnetic properties of electronic and magnetic materials at these frequencies.
There is hardly any information available on material properties at these
frequencies. These frequencies are difficult to reach from guided
microwave instrumentation as well as free space optical instrumentation.
We have designed and implemented state of the art instrumentation by
extending guided wave techniques into shorter wavelengths and optical
techniques into longer wavelengths.
Our facility is the only facility in the world to provide data as a
continuous function of frequency for electromagnetic quantities such as
dielectric permittivity and loss tangent, transmission and reflection
properties, refractive index and absorption coefficients, at room
temperature, low (cryogenic) and elevated (higher) temperatures for
various electronic materials at microwave, millimeter wave and
submillimeter wave frequencies.
We can measure complex magnetic permeability properties of magnetic
(ferrite) materials accurately at these frequencies by employing several
instrumentation. Each instrumentation also employs very high intensity
magnetic field (tens of thousands of Gauss) to separate out electrical and
magnetic properties effectively.
The use of higher intensity magnetic field is additionally useful to study
impurity characterization and band gap of semi-conductors as well as spin
effect studies of new high temperature super conducting materials. It is
essential to have accurate data on the above mentioned electromagnetic
properties for the fabrication of electronic devices and components at
these three decades of frequencies.