Michael I. Petelin graduated from the University of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, in 1959. He has been employed since then by the Russian Ministry for Higher Education and the Russian Academy of Sciences, combining theoretical and experimental research activities with the training of new generations of researchers. Professor Petelin is currently a Branch Head at the Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Science in Nizhny Novgorod and on the faculty of the Nizhny Novgorod State University. He has held positions as a visiting professor at the University of California, Davis, Seoul University, Korea, and the Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.
Prof. Petelin has worked since nearly the beginning of his career on the theory and design of components for high power coherent radiation sources using relativistic electron beams. From 1963 to 1973 he led a team of scientists and engineers that developed the gyrotron. During that period the peak power achieved in a gyrotron increased from a few watts to 1MW. Gyrotron oscillators are now commonly used for plasma heating and current drive in magnetic fusion systems. Gyro-amplifiers are used in long-range high-resolution radar systems.
Starting in 1969, jointly with various Russian, American and European teams, Prof Petelin led research to develop gigawatt, nanosecond pulse microwave generators driven by high-current electron accelerators. In 1996 such a microwave generator was used in the UK-Russian research radar NAGIRA.
From 1966 Prof. Petelin led the development of quasi-optical wave transmission and control components, including mode converters, polarizers, pulse compressors, and multiplexers for matching high power millimeter and microwave sources to various systems. Recently he helped develop the German-Italian-Russian quasi-optical duplexer FADIS, which is used for combining powers from two 140 GHz / ~1MW gyrotrons and for fast switching of the combined beam. These duplexers are designed to help control hot plasmas in fusion experiments.
In 1967 Prof. Petelin was the co-recipient of the State Prize of the USSR for the development of the gyrotron and in 2003, the State Prize of Russia for the development of pulsed High Power Microwave generators. In 1996 he was awarded the K. J. Button Prize for his contributions to research on millimeter waves. Prof. Petelin has authored and co-authored numerous publications. He is invited frequently to lecture at international conferences, workshops and schools.
John R. Pierce Award for Excellence in Vacuum Electronics 2011
For the invention of the gyrotron and for seminal contributions to the development of relativistic coherent radiation sources and quasi-optical components for high power RF systems.
