The transient scattering characteristics of millimeter waves from a cylindrical object near a flat boundary were measured by the 50 GHz scatterometer to evaluate the multiple interactions of scattered waves with the objects and the boundary. Both perfectly conducting and dielectric cylinders are considered as a scattering object. The pulse intensities including waves scattered first from the object and then from the flat boundary or vice versa are shown to be significantly influenced by the distance from the object to the boundary, depending on the refractive index of the object. The observed higher order responses including the multiple scattering between the object and the boundary are also discussed. A preliminary comparison of the measured and calculated pulse responses for the perfectly conducting object is presented at slightly oblique incidence on a flat boundary.

The characteristics of 155 Mbps optical propagation through atmosphere at the wavelengths of 0.78 and 1.55 m over a 72 m range were measured. Two propagation characteristics were compared to examine the wavelength dependence on the rain rate and the aperture size of a receiver. An enhanced intensity exceeding the signal level measured in the absence of rain was observed at both wavelengths during 7.2 mm/h rain. The resultant bit error rate is shown to be dominated mainly by the rain-induced scintillation rather than the attenuation.

We measured the optical propagation characteristics during rainfall over a 72-m propagation distance at the wavelengths of 0.78, 1.55, and 2.0 µm. In addition to the common attenuations, we observed sudden drops (dips) in the received optical power, which affect communication errors. The temporal interval of most dips is approximately 1 ms.

To investigate the feasibility of a compact FEA image sensor with a large number of pixels, a 128 96 pixel FEA image sensor with a 4-µm-thick HARP target was fabricated and tested for the first time. The experimental results showed that the prototype could stably operate as a highly sensitive image sensor having both sufficient resolution corresponding to the number of pixels and a wide dynamic range, which demonstrated its potential as a next-generation image sensor.

For the realization of low-voltage full-color FEDs, requirements for phosphor for the FED are proposed. Especially, the influence of released gases or substances from phosphors on the field emission within the FED was made clear. It was clarified that the analysis of F-N plots of the V-I curve of field emission characteristics was helpful to know the interaction of field emission and phosphors. In the experiment, we first obtained the depth from the phosphor surface of the low voltage electron excitation in case of ZnGa2O4, where the region available for cathodoluminescence at the anode voltage of 400 V is about 63 nm deep from the surface. The characteristic of the 12.4 cm-320(trio)240 pixels low-voltage full-color FED is reported. The luminance of 154 cd/m2 was attained at the anode voltage of 400 V and the duty factor of 1/241. Supported by the high potential of the FED as a flat panel, each problem shall be steadily solved to secure the firm stand as a new full color flat display in new applications.

The backscattering of a spherical wave which is incident on a random medium with large-scale fluctuations is studied. The spatial correlation function of the backscattered field taking account of the effect of the multiple scattering is obtained theoretically in the closed form for an arbitrary fluctuation of the medium. The dependence of the spatial correlation function on the medium fluctuation is clearly shown. The multiple scattering effects on the backscattered field received by a point and finite apertures are also considered by using the spatial correlation functions, and it is shown that as the aperture size increases the results tend to those for the plane wave case.