Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 12-4-2020

Abstract

Maxwell’s equations establish that patterns of electric charges and currents can be animated to travel faster than the speed of light in vacuo, c, and that these superluminal distribution patterns emit tightly focused packets of electromagnetic radiation that are fundamentally different from the emissions by previously known sources -- on Earth and in the Universe. This dissertation introduces a practical faster-than-light emitter: The superluminal polarization current antenna. Such devices use a polarization current that travels faster than c to give rise to electromagnetic radiation, a technique known as the vacuum Čerenkov effect. In what is to follow, the theoretical and mathematical foundations of this emission mechanism are laid, competing theories are critically examined, and experimental data from the antennas are compared with electromagnetic models.

Keywords

superluminal, faster-than-light, polarization current, dielectric antenna, antenna array

Sponsors

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Electrical Engineering

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Prof. Edl Schamiloglu

Second Committee Member

Prof. Christos Christodoulou

Third Committee Member

Prof. Zhen Peng

Fourth Committee Member

Prof. John Singleton

Fifth Committee Member

Dr. Bruce Carlsten

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