Vacuum Electronics Industry Retrospective and Futurecast
Carter M. Armstrong · 2022
An unvarnished recap of a 40-plus year career in plasma physics/vacuum electronics, the majority spent in the US vacuum tube industry. The good, the bad and the ugh, ugly. Happily, the number of experiences in the latter two categories are in the minority. Some observations are offered on key constituents of the community - suppliers, users, university, government/labs, along with a take on some technical achievements I was fortunate to be associated with, and some that remain to be realized. The paper concludes with some application and technology areas that could prove attractive for future R&D investment.