The Manfred Thumm Lab

Manfred Thumm’s lab works on high-power microwave and terahertz engineering for fusion and advanced radar systems. The research centers on gyrotrons, gyro-TWTs, waveguide transmission lines, quasi-optical components, antennas, and cooling systems that must operate at very high power and frequency. Much of the work supports electron cyclotron resonance heating for nuclear fusion devices such as W7-X and ASDEX Upgrade, where the lab studies how to push sources from the megawatt level toward even higher power while keeping them stable, efficient, and reliable. Students can expect a mix of electromagnetic design, thermal and structural analysis, multiphysics simulation, and experimental validation. The group also explores related topics such as Faraday rotators, quasi-optical duplexers, and radar-oriented microwave sources, giving the research a strong applied systems-engineering character. This lab is a good fit for students interested in electromagnetics, RF and microwave hardware, plasma heating, and the practical engineering behind extreme-frequency, high-power systems.