Introduction to Quarterly Progress Report

Abstract

This Report, the thirteenth in a series of quarterly progress reports issued by the Research Laboratory of Electronics, contains a review of the research activities of the Laboratory during the three-month period ending March 31, 1949. Since this is a preliminary report only, no results should be considered final. Since the last report was issued, the following interesting or significant results have been obtained. The first ten-centimeter high-power magnetron has operated at almost five megawatts for a period of approximately 50 hours before heater failure. The electronic differential analyzer has been used extensively for the solutions of problems for this Laboratory; of particular interest is the solution of the starting-transient equation of a synchronized magnetron. By the use of magnetic cooling, we have obtained a temperature of 0.0240K, a preliminary figure. Plans are being made to move the low-temperature equipment to more suitable quarters in Wing D of Building 20. Meanwhile, the linear accelerator is being transferred to its final position in the same wing, where adequate shielding has been provided. Coincident with this, new improvements are being made in the operation of the Van de Graaff generator and the tuning mechanism for the discharge tube. In the general field of communications research, we have used the auto-correlator for the detection of signals and were able to effect improvements of the order of 30 db in signal-noise ratio - this for signals well below the noise level. A study is being made of the possible use of correlator devices for electro-medical studies. The equipment for the study of conditional probabilities has been completed and the work on pulse-modulation interference has been finished.