"JAY EMRIE" bravely wrote to "MIKE ROSS" (03 Apr 04  21:10:00)
 --- on the heady topic of "{at}%^{at}#$%^ VEROBOARD"

 MR>Thanks, besides the antenna example other transducers now come to mind,
 MR>for example the electret microphone, electrostatic speaker, etc.
 MR>The name of the effect is electro-statics?

 JE> I thought it was electro magnetics - but it has been 30 plus years
 JE> since I have studied electronics so a few things are getting hazy.

An example of a magnetic effect might be if one places a very permeable
mass of metal close to the screen of a video display monitor. The
deflection field will diverge into the object because free space has a
whole lot more reluctance than ferrous metal. This effect messes with
the display colour purity when the monitor is placed on or near a metal
shelf.

I think a complimentary effect might also be found with a static
electric field but substituting dielectric materials instead. I saw a
UHF antenna design using a very long piece of dielectric foam used to
focus the wavefronts instead of the usual radiators and reflectors.
Something loosely like this was used for space X-ray telescopes. In
these the lens effect comes from the grazing incidence being altered
using a pyramid of stacked plates to redirect the photons into a focus.

 Mike
 ****

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