Faculty of Science and Technology

Professor Richard Carter

Professor Richard Carter of Lancaster University's Department of Engineering has been presented with a lifetime achievement award.

Professor Carter, a member of The Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology, was given the IVEC 2009 Award for Excellence in Vacuum Electronics at the Tenth International Vacuum Electronics Conference on 28th April in Rome.

This prestigious award was made for 'a life-long commitment to education in vacuum electronics and visionary leadership in academia and technical research in the field'.

It recognises the international impact of Professor Carter's work over a period of thirty years.

His deep insight into the complex mechanisms of vacuum electronics together with a rare aptitude for synthesis and explanation have had a widely recognized influence on students, researchers and people who have attended his lectures.

His lectures, delivered in eight countries, in three continents, and in video recordings, have been an invaluable source of knowledge within the international vacuum electronics and particle accelerator communities.

Around fifty people have worked with him as research fellows, research assistants and research students. Several of these now hold leading positions: two are laboratory directors and three head major research groups in the USA, China and India.

Appointed to the staff of the Engineering Department of Lancaster University in 1972, Richard Carter was promoted to a Chair in 1996. He was influential in the formation of the Faraday Partnership in High Power Radio-Frequency Engineering in 2001 and the Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology in 2004. He is an IEEE Electron Devices Society Distinguished Lecturer and has been a member of the Technical Committee on Vacuum Electronics since its formation in 1998.

Professor Carter's breadth of expertise is demonstrated by innovative contributions on: modelling of helix, coupled-cavity, folded waveguide and in general slow-wave structures for travelling-wave tubes (TWTs) with particular emphasis on equivalent circuit definition, performance improvements and large signal aspects; design and simulation of strapped magnetron anodes; beam-wave interaction in klystrons and multi-beam klystrons; and development of methods of cold-test measurement for components used in microwave tubes. He was responsible for developing, or overseeing the development, of computer codes for large-signal modelling of TWTs and klystrons.

His contributions have been embodied in computer codes which are used in UK, European, and Indian companies and research laboratories for computer-aided design of microwave tubes.

Wed 06 May 2009

Associated Links

• Cockcroft Institute - International Centre for Research inrnAccelerator Science and Technology