In Memoria

Professor Georgii D. Mansfeld The time and frequency control community lost one of its most innovative leaders, Georgii D. Mansfeld, 71, who collapsed and died on his way to work on November 17, 2011. Georgii D. Mansfeld was born in Moscow in 1940. He received the PhD degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (1970) and D.Sci. from the Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics (IRE) of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his work “Acoustoelectronic interaction in semiconductors in an AC electric field” (1984). Professor Mansfeld was the Head of the IRE Laboratory for many years. He taught many generations of students at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. During the first years of his career, in the late 1960s, he experimented with microwave BAW generation using a high resistivity depletion layer (either natural, or induced) by a DC field effect close to the surface of a piezoelectric semiconductor. Later in his career, he made significant contributions to the experimental studies of amplification of acoustic waves in semiconductors by electron drift and a variety of acoustoelectronic phenomena in the frequency range 0.5 – 9.4GHz. He confirmed, experimentally, a new mechanism of acoustoelectronic nonlinearity, the so called “electron momentum” nonlinearity. This work was the first direct experimental observation of nonlinear Landau damping in electron plasma in solids. He conducted systematic studies of acoustic waves in polycrystalline ferrites, new piezoelectric materials (particularly quartz-like crystals) and microwave resonators. Professor Mansfeld was originator of microwave resonance acoustic loss spectroscopy of thin piezoelectric films and layers. Using this technique, original data on attenuation constants in thin crystalline layers, carbon nanotubes and Langmuir-Blodgett films at microwave frequencies were obtained. Professor Mansfeld was an active IEEE member, chairing the Russian chapter of the UFFC and participating in the Technical Program Committee of IEEE Frequency Control Symposia. He received the 2005 European Frequency and Time award and the 2011 IEEE Cady Award for pioneering research in physical acoustoelectronics and acoustics. Georgii is survived by his wife, Valentina, his daughter and two grandchildren. People knew Georgii as a kind, gentle and generous man who was always open to his friends, colleagues and students. His bright image will always live in our hearts.

David Picton Morgan, IEEE Senior Life Member, was born in Essex, England in 1941 during the throes of WW2. After graduating in physics from St Catherine’s college, Cambridge University in 1962 he conducted research on Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices at University College, London, gaining his MSc in 1966 and PhD in 1969. He spent the year from 1970 to 1971 at Nippon Electric in Japan, and 1971 to 1977 at Edinburgh University, Scotland, again researching SAW devices. In 1977 he joined the Plessey company, Caswell, Northamptonshire, England. At Plessey he led the team developing SAW devices for both civilian and military applications. During this time he developed the theory of SAW transduction and was encouraged to write a text book on the theory and practice of SAW devices which has become a classic in the field. This was published in 1985 while a second edition appeared in 2008. David spent almost his entire career in SAW devices, forming the company “Impulse Consulting” after the inexplicable closure of Plessey’s SAW research activity in 1986. For the rest of his life David consulted on SAW devices for numerous companies worldwide, and was widely respected as an International expert, enthusiast, and teacher and lecturer on the subject. As well as writing his book, David developed extensive software modelling suites and continued to publish his findings regularly, with a total of 100 publications and 4 patents. He died at his home in Northampton on 10th March 2010 of lymphoma, still actively engaged on his beloved SAW devices and with plans for future international collaborations. More details of David’s work:
The existence of Surface Acoustic Waves on solids was first proved theoretically by Lord Rayleigh (also from Essex, England) in 1885. However it was not until the 1960’s that the efficient and selective generation of SAW on piezoelectric crystals was demonstrated and analysed by workers in Berkeley and Stanford Universities in California. There followed an explosion of interest worldwide in such devices and their applications. David’s introduction to the subject came from his research on dispersive delay lines for use in radar under Dr Eric Ash at University College, London. David was the first westerner to work at Nippon Electric in Japan, where he initiated a research programme into the modelling and fabrication of interdigital SAW devices. At Edinburgh University David worked as Research Fellow with Professor Jeff Collins on various aspects of signal processing using SAW devices and developed an early SAW convolver for use as a programmable matched filter. David (like the rest of the SAW community) was always keen on publishing the virtues of analogue SAW devices in the face of growing digital competition. In 1976 he edited “Key papers on Surface Acoustic Wave Passive Interdigital Devices”, IEE REPRINT SERIES 2. (ISBN:0 901223 82 4.) which contains sections describing his own work in Edinburgh.
In 1977 David joined the Plessey research centre at Caswell, Northamptonshire, in a team that at various times included Bob Milsom, John Deacon, and other SAW notables. At Plessey David worked on the theory of SAW transduction including the detailed behaviour of the charge distribution in interdigital transducers and its effect on harmonic responses. The devices investigated included bandpass filters, especially commercial TV IF filters. We believe that Plessey was the first company in the world to manufacture such devices commercially and it later formed Signal Technology, a joint SAW company with Andersen Labs, USA. Another device that David developed was the SAW dispersive delay line for use in various Plessey radars, including the extremely-demanding nonlinear disperser required for the state-of-the-art Plessey AR3D radar. At this time Plessey was also part of the collaborative UK MOD SAW program run from RSRE, Malvern. David undertook such MOD-funded research on the SAW convolver, where he introduced a variant employing dispersive transducers, and also developed the theory of a 2-dimensional impulse response. David’s other principal achievement while at Plessey was publishing in 1985 his book which formed a succinct account of the growing breadth of interest and applications of SAW devices: “Surface-Wave Devices for Signal Processing” Elsevier, ISBN: 0-444-42511-X. This includes much of David’s own theoretical work and was translated into Russian in 1990 by Sergei Zhgoon. It remained the classic work in the field until its recent second edition: “ Surface Acoustic Wave Filters” Elsevier 2008, ISBN: 978-0-1237-2537-0. David’s work at “Impulse Consulting” is, of course, commercially sensitive but he consulted widely and undertook lecturing tours in many countries including USA, Russia, China, Finland, Japan, Korea and Brazil, where his authority and personal qualities were always highly regarded. In 1992 David participated in the “International Symposium on SAW devices for mobile communications” a select meeting of SAW experts organised by the Japanese prior to the launch of SAW devices into the massive mobile communications market. During this time (1986-2010) he continued to publish his findings, often jointly with collaborators, and David had plans for at least two further international collaborations. David’s private life: In his private life David was an enthusiastic and experienced skier and, like so many physicists, David was an accomplished musician. He studied piano from the age of 7 and as a schoolboy had a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Music, where among several things he played timpani in the orchestra. He also sang tenor in a number of choirs and could sing difficult scores at sight. It was during his time at Cambridge that his interest in the organ began, each of the colleges having a fine organ in their chapels. Later he attended masterclasses with the internationally renowned organists Anton Heiller and Marie-Clare Alain, and had lessons with Flor Peeters. He obtained the Royal College of Music’s diploma in organ playing in 1964. He had played for services in several cathedrals including Ely, Peterborough and St David’s, and had given a number of solo recitals. David will be greatly missed by his sister, Helen and her family, numerous friends and colleagues in the UK and abroad, and his local church where he was organist.

Jack Lee Saunders, Retired President of Saunders and Associates, Inc. Jack Lee Saunders, 81, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and uncle passed away peacefully at home with his family by his side on Friday, September 10, 2010. Jack was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa to Paul J Saunders and Lillian Elizabeth Banther Saunders on May 9, 1929. Following his mother’s death in 1933 the family moved to Colorado, where he later graduated in physics from Colorado State University. He attended Officers Candidate School and was appointed Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. As a physicist, Jack played an important role in the research and design to supply the communications and data systems for the Apollo Spacecraft missions, while working at Collins Radio in Newport Beach, California. In 1966, he moved his family to Scottsdale, Arizona. A year later, he founded Saunders & Associates, which provided consultation to the quartz crystal industry. Jack built the company into an electronic test equipment provider, shipping to divisions of virtually all of the major component, automotive, and electrical equipment manufacturers in the U.S. as well as to 50 countries. Jack received the IEEE C.B Sawyer Memorial Award in 1993 for “leadership in the development and manufacture of quartz resonator measurement equipment used throughout the industry”. At work and at home he was known as “J Lovable”. Jack retired to Williamsburg, Virginia in 2000, where he enjoyed his retirement taking cruises, traveling with his wife, and playing golf with friends in Kingsmill. He lived each day to its fullest, and his kindness and wisdom touched many lives. Jack is survived by his wife Pat Saunders, daughters Kris Wetherill and Kim Smith, granddaughter Alisha Wetherill, son-in-law Vince Smith, and his nieces and nephews. He will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him. A private family service has been held. A celebration of his life will be planned for a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Heritage Humane Society, 430 Waller Mill Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185 (www.heritagehumanesociety.org) or the American Cancer Society (for lung cancer), PO Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123 (www.cancer.org).

Harry Peters, Hydrogen Maser Expert Harry Edward Peters, 87, died May 19, 2010 at the Hospice of West Alabama. Harry was an accomplished researcher, scientist, craftsman, and business owner and operator. Harry spent his youth in Rochester, MN, graduating from High School in 1941. He served in the United States Navy through both the Second World War and Korean Conflict with the rank of Chief Petty Officer before leaving the military with an honorable discharge. Harry then went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Washington, graduating Magna Cum Laude and entering the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. His passion was for Hydrogen Masers from the very beginning, working with such notables as Dan Kleppner, Howard Berg, Stuart Crampton, Norman Ramsey and others. His early product-development career was at Varian Associates,(Beverly, MA) with Bob Vessot and Jacque Vanier and many others at Varian. Harry moved to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Goddard ultimately guiding a program essential to tracking and timing for manned moon missions and deep space planetary probes. He continually worked on making the H-maser an ultra-stable, reliable frequency standard for a variety of field applications. He authored an array of papers on H-masers and received numerous awards. Retiring from NASA in 1975, Harry moved to Tuscaloosa, Al and a couple of years later started Sigma Tau Standards Corporation, a research and development firm dedicated to production of time and frequency standards. Under his leadership, Sigma Tau perfected experimental designs for extremely precise and stable clocks based on hydrogen. Several words describe working with Harry, but one described it best. He was ‘PROLIFIC.’ He was a product of by-gone days when every mechanical drawing was handmade. Every part handcrafted. And there were thousands of hand drawings and crafted parts (the archive at just NIST proves it). The numerous drawings leave a deep, favorable and lasting impression on anyone in this field. Another word to describe Harry would be ‘PERSISTENCE.’ Above many other attributes, Harry succeeded in bringing the exceptional stability of the H-maser to commercial availability through Sigma Tau Corporation essentially with his own personal investment. While it’s one thing to be involved in the development of a new and intricate technology, it is quite another to risk a business and reputation to manufacture, deliver, and support that technology. Harry persisted. His designs evolved into what many regard as the first field-operational masers that were commercially available to government organizations, measurement institutes, and research laboratories. He made his maser as small as possible, his being in the ‘full-size’ category (using a TE011 mode rf cavity). Key to success of the Sigma Tau maser was refinement of an innovative auto tuner to minimize frequency drift. Essential to national and international time measurement, Global Navigation Satellite Systems like GPS, and other high technology navigation systems, these clocks are recognized as the most stable ever manufactured. It was so much more stable and reliable than other frequency standards that its modest size became a non-issue. On that point, Harry wanted his H-masers to appear smaller to the point that he photographed his prototype alongside the tallest secretary he could find.
Those of us who new Harry Peters are saddened by his passing. We pay homage to our friend and colleague, while reveling in his enormous contributions. EULOGY TO HARRY PETERS by David Howe, NIST, at the IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium, 2 June 2010.

The international ferroelectrics community lost a long-time and productive member on Christmas Day 2009 when William N. (Bill) Lawless died. Bill was born in Denver, Colorado in the USA in 1936. He graduated in Metallurgical Engineering in 1959 from the Colorado School of Mines, and went on to earn a Ph.D in physics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. His thesis was on ferroelectric domain walls. Dr. Lawless then spent a year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland where he continued his research on ferroelectric materials in Professor Werner Kanzig’s and Professor Hans Granicher’s laboratories. At the end of 1965, Bill returned to the USA to take up a position at the recently established Research and Development Laboratories of Corning Glass in Corning, New York. At Corning, Bill worked on ferroelectric glass ceramics and the low-temperature physics of ferroelectric and relatedmaterials.Out of thiswork came the important discovery of the high specific heat ferroelectric ceramics. In 1981, Bill and Dr. C. Fred Clark founded CeramPhysics, Inc., an independent research and product development company located in Westerville, Ohio. Bill served as President of CeramPhysics from its founding until his death. Over the last 28 years, CeramPhysics has developed a variety of novel technologies building on some of the basic research done by Bill at Corning on high specific heat ferroelectric ceramics. These technologies have resulted in the development of a solid state proportioning valve for natural gas, minature solid state oxygen and NOx sensors, capacitive energy storage at 77K, a solid state oxygen generator, a solid state nitrogen purifies, a honeycomb fuel cell, electrocaloric refrigeration, and improved insulation for superconductors. Bill was an original thinker, widely read and able to see potential synergisms across disparate fields. He was especially creative at seeing new uses for unusual properties of ceramics. This inventiveness led to 38 patents. His publications, which numbered over 140, were coauthored with a large number of colleagues from many countries. They included such well known ferroelectric scientists as A.S. Bhalla, W.W. Cao, C.F. Clark, L.E. Cross, R.C. De Vries, J. Fousek, A.M. Glass, H. Granicher, U. Hochli, S.K. Kurtz, T. Nakamura, K.A. Panchyk, R.K. Pandy, G.A. Samara, W.A. Schulz, V.H. Schmidt, N. Setter, T.R. Shrout, A. Sternberg and M. Takashige. Bill investigated in his career the ferroelectric, dielectric, thermal and superconductive properties of a wide variety of materials in single crystal, ceramic and glass forms. In the early years of his career his work was focused on physics, but later it became more application oriented. Bill served on the Editorial Board of Ferroelectrics from 1983 to his death in 2009. He was a long-time member of the IEEE Ferroelectrics Committee and served as Chairman of the 1981 International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectricity. Bill was widely respected in the ferroelectrics community and it was common for other researchers to seek him out. Bill resonated with other creative people and the ideas that came from these interactions often led to new inventions and fruitful interactions and creative insights. Bill enjoyed reading in many fields and was well-versed in current events. He had a wide circle of friends and was always ready to hear or tell a new joke. One of his most outstanding traits was his unusually deep well of common sense which he always attributed to his Irish heritage, especially though his father. Bill is survived by his widow Nancy and three daughters, Laurie, Denise, and Therese. C. Fred Clark CeramPhysics Columbus Ohio USA George W. Taylor Princeton Resources Princeton New Jersey USA C. Fred Clark and George W. Taylor, “Obituary: Dr. William N. Lawless (1936-2009)”, Ferroelectrics, Volume 396, pp. 1-2 (2010). (Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd, http://www.informaworld.com, reprinted by permission of the publisher)

Robert Everest Newnham, (age 80) of State College, Pennsylvania, a resident of Foxdale Village, died at Hershey Medical Center on April 16, 2009. He was born March 28, 1929, in Amsterdam, New York, the son of the late William E. and Dorothy M. Hamm Newnham. On July 26, 1964, Bob married Patricia Friss Newnham, a nurse from E. Hartford, Connecticut, who survives. Bob and Pat had two children – a son, Randall E. Newnham of Reading, Pennsylvania, and a daughter – Rosemary E. Newnham of New York City. A graduate of four universities, Bob studied mathematics at Hartwick College (B.S., 1950), physics at Colorado State University (M.S., 1952), physics and mineralogy at Penn State (Ph.D., 1956) and crystallography at Cambridge University (Ph.D., 1960). Prior to joining the Penn State faculty in 1966, he was an I.C.I. Fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University and taught in the Electrical Engineering Department of M.I.T. for 10 years. At Penn State, Bob taught courses on Crystal Physics, Crystal Chemistry, Electroceramics, Mineralogy, Gem Minerals, Biomaterials, X-ray Diffraction, and Crystal Structure Analysis. Widely known for his enthusiastic lectures and colorful illustrations, Bob was honored with the Outstanding Educator Award of the Ceramic Education Council, and the Wilson Teaching Prize of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. During his career, he delivered the Dow Lectures at Northwestern University, the Wolff Lecture at M.I.T., the McMahon Lecture at Alfred University, the Pond Lectures at Johns Hopkins, the Maddin Lecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Byron Short Lecture at the University of Texas. After retirement, Bob taught for two years at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Newnham was active in several professional societies serving as Editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Secretary of the Materials Research Society, President of the American Crystallographic Association, and Distinguished Lecturer for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Among his many Awards was the Jeppson Medal, the E.C. Henry Award, the Bleininger Award, the David Kingery Award of the American Ceramic Society, the third Millennium Medal and Ultrasonics Achievement Award of the IEEE, the Centennial Award of the Japan Ceramics Society, the Turnbull Lecturer Award of the Materials Research Society, the Adaptive Structures Prize of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Electrical Engineering from the Franklin Institute, and the Basic Research Award of the World Academy of Ceramics. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Bob Newnham wrote five books, more that 500 research papers and 20 patents on electroceramics and composite materials for electronic and acoustic applications. The composite piezoelectric transducers developed in his laboratory revolutionized the quality of ultrasound images in cardiology, obstetrics, and underwater sonar. Every major ultrasonics manufacturer in the world including several in central Pennsylvania use composite transducers based on his designs. His miniature flextensional transducers for hydrophone towed arrays is one Penn State’s most successful patents. They are widely used in underwater oil explorations and geophysical research. During the past forty years, Bob and his long-time colleague Eric Cross, built up one of the largest ferroelectrics research programs in the world. Together they pioneered a number of new piezoelectric and electrostrictive materials for use as sensors, actuators, and capacitors. They were the first to carry out a complete classification of primary and secondary ferroics with examples of each. He retired from Penn State in 1999 as Alcoa Professor Emeritus after serving eight years as Associate Director of the Materials Research Laboratory and 18 years as Director of the Intercollege Program on Solid State Science.

Charles Stuart Stone, age 78, of Cedar Park, Texas, passed away at his home on March 10th, 2009. Charles was born in Austin, Texas, on February 11, 1931, to parents Dr. Wilson Stuart Stone and Julia Jean (Lampman) Stone. He was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin School of Pure Mathematics. Mr. Stone founded the Brightline Company in Austin, Texas which, in 1984 was integrated into Frequency Electronic, Inc. Mitchel Filed, New York where he served as Vice President for Advanced Development. Mr. Stone, a life member of the IEEE was the 2005 recipient of the IEEE Cady Award for his outstanding contributions to State-Of-The-Art Low Noise Quartz Oscillators and Low Noise Circuits. He was the author of two major articles and many abstract papers presented at frequency and timing symposiums. Mr. Stone was awarded more than 14 patents for instrumentation and circuit designs which significantly contributed to advancements in low noise quartz oscillator performance. During the past two years, Mr. Stone concentrated on the advanced development of low-g sensitivity quartz oscillators and demonstrated sensitivity performance of better than 1E-11/g. Charles is survived by his wife, Judy and seven children; Dr. James Byron Stone and wife Sherry of Austin, Texas; Dr. Donald Stuart Stone of Madison, Wisconsin; William Henry Stone and wife Laura of Austin, Texas; Robert Gerald Cummins of Cedar Park, Texas; John Matthew Stone, of Buda, Texas, Julie Anne (Cummins) Chandler and husband David, of Escondido, California, and Jennifer Jean (Stone) Jordan and husband Jeffery of Austin, Texas, four grandchildren and two granddaughters.

William J. Tanski, 67, of Glastonbury, CT, died at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center (Hartford, CT) on June 2, 2008. He was born on July 26, 1940, in Morristown, NJ, and had lived in Glastonbury since 1985. Bill received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, and his MS and PhD degrees in Physics from Georgetown University in 1970 and 1971, respectively. After serving in the US Navy as a nuclear reactor engineer, he began his career at the Sperry Research Center, in Sudbury, MA, in 1974. His early research work involved acoustic signal processing, and the development of VHF, UHF, and L-Band SAW resonator structures for a variety of oscillator and filter applications. After leaving Sperry, Bill worked at the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center in Ridgefield, CT, where he was involved in the development of SAW based pressure sensors. In 1985 he joined the United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) in East Hartford, CT, where he was engaged in the development of acoustic charge transport (ACT) and hetero-junction acoustic charge transport (HACT) device structures for signal processing and filtering applications. At UTRC he also continued his efforts to develop low noise SAW-based frequency sources for military applications. In recognition of his pioneering contributions to the development of SAW resonators, he was named an IEEE Fellow in 1992, with the following citation: “For developments in surface acoustic wave resonator devices”. During his career Bill was an active UFFC member, serving as a member of the Technical Program Committee for the Ultrasonics Symposium from 1980 to 1986, and also served as the UFFC Membership Chair for a number of years. Bill was an author of numerous technical publications during his career, as well as an inventor on many issued US patents. At the time of his death, he was working as an engineer for the United Technologies Otis Elevator subsidiary in Farmington, CT. Bill is survived by his wife Mary, and five sons.

Werner Weidemann was born in Germany in 1943. After receiving his engineering degree in electronics, he began his career with Rohde & Schwartz, Munich, working in their laboratory with quartz and rubidium vapor oscillator technologies. He joined Efratom GmbH, working with Ernst Jechart, its founder and inventor of the miniature rubidium vapor oscillator. In 1973, Werner, his boss Ernst, and Heinz Badura came to the USA to begin the Efratom California operation, leaving Ernst’s partner behind to run Efratom Munich. During his stay in the US, Werner made astonishing contributions to the world of precision time and frequency. First, he was instrumental in bringing his boss’s FRK Rb oscillator to a low cost, high performance unit, which became well known throughout the globe. Second, in the mid ‘70s, he was a principal team member in the development of the first production Rb oscillators used on the initial GPS satellites; accomplished in a teaming relationship with (then) Rockwell International. His contribution to GPS is noted in the ‘History of GPS’ article, GPS World magazine, June 2010 edition. Third, in the mid ‘80s, he designed the world’s smallest Rb oscillator, the FRS, which dominated the telecom market till the late ‘90s. He remained with Efratom through its transitions to Ball Aerospace and Datum Inc. Early 2000, Werner joined Odetics Telecom, which became FEI-Zyfer in 2003, where he supported various advancements in the commercial and military Rb oscillator technologies. In 2007, Werner was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away in October 2008. He will be sorely missed in the global precision time and frequency industry.