PL-6: Spectroscopic systems and vacuum electronics in the submillimeter

The interest in the submillimeter (a. k. a. terahertz) spectral region has increased dramatically in the past decade. Significant one-of-a-kind systems, especially in astronomy and atmospheric science, have been developed and many mass market applications considered. This paper will focus on the application space for which vacuum electronics appear to be the best technical choice. It will be concluded that these include those applications which value frequency accuracy, agility, and bandwidth at high frequency and those that require power for probes and signals along paths with significant loss.