Paul P. Woskov

Biography

Education

BS, Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1972)
MS, Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1974)
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1976)

Expertise

Millimeter-wave technologies and applications; nuclear fusion, fission, and geothermal energy; plasma diagnostics and applications to environmental and process monitoring.

Research

Development and use of technologies in the microwave through terahertz frequency range for applications in energy and environment. Contributed to the development of the highest power millimeter-wave sources (gyrotrons/ lasers) and highly sensitive millimeter-wave heterodyne receivers and the transmission technologies to exploit their use. Current work involves applying millimeter-wave technologies developed for magnetic confinement fusion energy research to enabling geothermal energy and deep borehole storage of nuclear waste. Also, continuing to contribute to fusion energy diagnostics development and working as an F4E external expert for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). Research has included the development of high power collective Thomson scattering diagnostics for thermal ion and fusion product energy distribution measurements in tokamaks, real-time monitoring inside nuclear waste melters, continuous emission monitoring of stack hazardous metals emissions using low temperature microwave plasmas, millimeter-wave radiometry for materials measurements in extreme environments, and the melting and vaporization of hard crystalline rock with directed energy millimeter-waves to lower costs of boring and sealing deep wells.

Patents

“Microwave Plasma Apparatus and Method for Materials Processing”, Pat. No. 8,748,785, June 10, 2014.

“Directed Energy Melter”, Pat. No. 8,525,085, September 3, 2013.

“Millimeter-Wave Drilling and Fracturing System”, Pat. No. 8,393,410, March 12, 2013.

“Millimeter-Wave Melter Monitoring System”, Pat. No. 7,997, 121B2, August 16, 2011.

Publications

“Penetrating Rock with Intense Millimeter-Waves” Paul Woskov, Herbert Einstein, and Ken Oglesby, 2014 39th International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves, Tucson, Arizona, MIT Report PSFC/JA-14-17, 2014.

“A Reflected Power Isolator for a 10 kW, 28 GHz Gyrotron”, P .P. Woskov, Microwave Symposium Digest (IMS), 2013 IEEE MTT-S International, Seattle, WA, 2-7 June 2013.

“Millimeter-Wave Heating, Radiometry, and Calorimetry of Granite Rock to Vaporization”, Paul Woskov and Phil Michael, Journal Infrared Millimeter and Terahertz Waves, vol. 33, pp. 82-95, 2012.

“High Temperature 2-D Millimeter-Wave Radiometry of Micro Grooved Nuclear Graphite”, Paul P. Woskov and S.K. Sundaram, Proceedings MRS2012 Fall Meeting, Boston, 2012.

“Millimeter-Wave Radiometer Diagnostics of Harmonic Electron Cyclotron Emission in the Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX)”, P. P. Woskov, J. Kesner, D. T. Garnier, and M. E. Mauel, Rev. Sci. Instrum., vol. 81, 2010.

Talks & Media

“Gyrotron Drilling Full Bore” MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, seminar, Cambridge, November 2014.

“Millimeter-Wave Directed Energy a New Approach to Accessing Crustal Resources”, GE Whitney Symposium, Schenectady, October 2013.

“Millimeter-Wave Technologies and Techniques for Monitoring High Temperature Processes”, Asia Pacific Microwave Conference--APMC04--, New Delhi, December 2004.

“Conception of Thermal Far-Infrared Collective Thomson Scattering and its Evolution to Gyrotron Scattering on JET/TEXTOR/ASDEX Upgrade”, Le Petit International Symposium on Laser Aided Plasma Diagnostics, Fukuoka, Japan, March 2004.