Active research activities Mikhail Juhimovich Il'chenko started over forty years ago and the choice of his research direction dictated by life itself. At that time of the active opposition of the USSR and the USA in the field of high-tech weapons the Soviet Union was especially to develop competitive radio-electronic systems that would solve the problem of radar and radio interception. To perform these tasks the best research teams of the country were involved including the staff of the department of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute of Radio Engineering headed by the founder of Radio Engineering Faculty Professor Vladimir Ohyevsky, who together with Associate Professor Alexandra Jakimovna Bokrynska organized the highly qualified group which performed a lot of development in the interests of national defense and in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the special government. The structure of this creative team involved M.J. Il’chenko.
Which factors influenced the direction choice of research M.J. Il’chenko research?
First of all, the need to perform complex technical challenges posed by scientific research equipment. Known traditional technical solutions of microwave devices did not meet the standards required and this explains the need for new research. Those investigations primarily dealt with solutionof physical and technical problems of creating wireless devices and systems, features which would be based, in particular, on the use of various physical phenomena in ferrites and dielectrics in their interaction with microwave radiation in various electromagnetic systems. There were involved the leading scientific institutions of the Academy of Sciences and electronics industry in the country to solve the premise problems.
M.J.Il’chenko’s scientific achievements are as follows.
Firstly,these are the basic researches that led to the creation of a new class of the dielectric and ferritial solid-state vibrational systems. He found mathematically modeled and systematized more common patterns of interaction with electromagnetic fields at microwave frequencies ferrite and dielectric elements located in different waveguide systems and have a resonant nature of this interaction. Such an interaction is caused by a variety of physical phenomena, namely: ferromagnetic resonance in ferrites volume in dielectric resonance elements of resonances in planar dielectric structures. The main feature of the proposed approach is to find indicated patterns as a function of complex linking coefficients that were introduced by M.J.Il’chenko within field considerations. The ordering patterns made it possible to predict the characteristics of interaction in various specific cases.
The external system characteristics are found in the form of transmission or reflection coefficient. M.J.Il’chenko deduced dozens of new formulas, which for the first time mathematically described the characteristics of resonators in different lines of transmission of electromagnetic waves. Value found for the first time made it possible to qualitatively and quantitatively describe the physical effects of asymmetry of the resonance characteristics of high tanistry frequency, rotate the plane of polarization of electromagnetic waves in a waveguide, the presence of high attenuation poles, the impact of higher types of electromagnetic waves which are disturbed by resonators and distributed in transmission lines and others. As for the physical effects, it should be noted that some of them were found by M.J.Il’chenko. For example, before the works of M.J.Il’chenko it was thought that the plane rotate of polarization of electromagnetic waves in a circular waveguide with ferrite due only to the Faraday effect and is directly proportional to the linear size of the ferrite and its real part of magnetic permeability. M.J.Il’chenko found experimentally and then proved theoretically that under certain conditions it installed ferrite element of almost linear size zero can cause significant rotation, if the polarization plane is on-resonance. The mechanism of the detected rotation is caused not real but imaginary part of the magnetic permeability of the ferrite. As a result of these studies in 1968 M.J.Il’chenko published the original article "The phenomenon of resonance plane of polarization in a circular waveguide with a ferrite resonator" in the leading journal of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, "Radio Engineering and Electronics". This article highlighted the basic laws of resonant plane of polarization and outlined the principles of a new direction of research for the first time. Also, for the first time M.J.Il’chenko revealed experimentally (and then theoretically) the effect of growth rate of microwave energy absorption until its maximum value with increasing power levels above the critical value using nonlinear ferromagnetic resonance. M.J.Il’chenko proposed to modify the dissipative member of classical equations of the magnetization vector ferrite motion by adding a parameter that takes into account the traditional heat loss and an option which would consider reradiation losses. Identifying other patterns of interaction, deriving formulas for the original characteristics of specific systems and relations for linking coefficients enabled the scientist to offer dozens of new technical solutions for resonant devices protected by copyright certificates on inventions, to optimize the design for a number of devices and to create methods of engineering calculation frequencly-selective devices of a new generation which favorably differed from their predecessors in 50-100 times better mass and size characteristics. Years later, the country's leading experts (including an Academician Volodymyr Methodievich Yakovenko) called these scientific articles "classic works". So, the introduction of the obtained results in practice of M.J.Il’chenko honoured in 1983 with the State Prize in Science and Technology as it should be. This reward was awarded for a series of scientific works that helped to create in the USSR and introduce the new practices in scientific and technical direction - dielektroniks. This trend is based on the use of physical phenomena in dielectric materials with high temperature stability of their parameters. As part of the awarded work were created such new dielectric materials and solved the problems of mathematical modeling interaction of dielectric resonators with ultra-high frequency fields.
Secondly, M.J.Il’chenko conducted a study to develop a new class of miniaturized solid-state devices which structure included, on a level with dielectric resonators, active semiconductor devices (transistors, Gunn diodes etc.). Their combined use has made it possible to create a generation of miniaturized devices according to the specific design requirements of microwave radio intelligence information systems and satellite communications that had been created in the interests of national defense in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Soviet government. New technical solutions in dielektroniks were also used in creation of the information systems on civilian purposes. Their widespread implementation took place in the following decades and is illustrated by the fact that the dielectric resonator is an integral part of each of the hundreds of millions of individual parabolic antennas receiving satellite TV in the world nowadays. By creating, together with scientists and manufacturers of electronic devices with the industry of the USSR qualitatively new features and implementing them in electronic equipment of special purpose satellite telecommunications awarded M.J.Il’chenko with the title of laureate of the USSR State Prize in Science and Technology 1989.
Thirdly, since the 90s, when the USSR collapsed, research and development for the needs of the military complex have almost stopped, especially noticeable was the problem of the elimination of a significant gap in our country's modern telecommunications under the leadership of M. Il'chenko several national research programs on the problems of telecommunications were made. M.J.Il’chenko is an actively working scientist and creator of new technical systems. In particular, he is the senior designer of the information systems’ development that run for hire of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and put into daily operations of the respectable department. His personal involvement also applies to the creation of new competitive telecommunicative information systems based on microwave technology. Evidence of M.J.Il’chenko’s fundamental research results, in particular, is the fact that his earlier created scientific principles of constructing solid dielectric filters allow to use these devices for industry at present. Thus, the dielectric devices are being implemented in hardware and mobile radio receivers for over a decade used to determine the location of objects on Earth with help of the GPS system, which are now commercially produced by "The Horizon-Navigation" in Cherkasy.
The achievements in microwave engineering, including dielektroniks, are effectively implemented in the domestic development of microwave integrated services information systems such as MITRIS, practical implementation of which enables significantly improve the state telecommunications software of the information. Made with the help of M.J. Il’chenko, these developments are successfully used in Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and other countries. Creating the advanced radiotelekommunikative systems is rewarded M.J.Il’chenko in 2000 with The Prize of Lebedev by the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The developments of recent years concerning microwave modern information systems that solve the problems of broadband wireless access, including the use of electromagnetic waves of terahertz range and nanotechnology in radiotelekomunikative systems. In recent publications, rates of wireless technologies introduction are sometimes compared with revolutionary changes in computer hardware during the implementation of computer information networks. The combination of benefits that made the optimum use of microwave technology and computer technology has enabled the team of specialists from the Kiev Polytechnic, Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of NAS of Ukraine, "Ukrsat" and company "Horizon-Navigation" for scientific coordination by M.J.Il’chenko to execute the cycle developments aimed at carrying out tasks under the three decrees of the President of Ukraine, four enactments of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Accepting these challenges made it real to create and implement national information and telecommunication systems for informational customs, taxation and border services, banking, information technology support to improve Ukrainian traffic, navigation systems’ refinement, information support of public authorities and others. The introduction of this cycle developments is rewarded with the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology in 2004.
Another important research direction which M.J.Il’chenko patronizes is the study of the history of science and technology. Formation and development of the State Polytechnic Museum was for his direct participation. Together with his applicants for the academic degree, Ph.D. candidates and employees of the museum, he organized study of the history of technology as a necessary component of the convictions’ formation of technical specialties experts. On the initiative of Academician Boris Paton, since 2001 it is initiated research reading from "The outstanding constructors of Ukraine" which are held at the museum under the auspices of its Scientific Council headed by M.J.Il’chenko. The study of more than 30 local creators, pioneers in various fields of scientific and technical creativity, whose path of life and science is connected with Ukraine, contributes to the preservation of historical memory about important achievements of science, technology and engineering, design effort, formation of the entire picture of the historical science and technology development in the country.
Scientific and organizational activities of M.J.Il’chenko are diverse, they, in particular, form the basis of innovation within the Science Park of "Kyiv Polytechnic", he is an editor of scientific journal "Telecommunication Sciences", "Research on the history of technology," co-chairman of Program Committee of Ukraine of twenty annual International conference on microwave and telecommunication technology "Krymiko", whose works of over 10 years are presented in the world-wide base "Scopus". Deputy Academician-Secretary of the Informatics Department of NAS of Ukraine, the head of the vice-chancellors of research - those elected duties and membership in many scientific and organizational national level committees promote the use of his experience in formulating and implementing policies of the organization of science in Ukraine.
New publications of M.J.Il’chenko are more than 500 works, including encyclopedic monographs. In particular, the monograph "Dielectric resonators" which was published in 1989 in the publishing house "Radio and Communications" (Moscow) with participation and editing of M.J.Il’chenko, it was presented at the Library of Congress of the United States and the preface to it was written by Laureate of Lenyn and Nobel Prize, twice Hero of Socialist Labor, academician of Academy of Science of the USSR Alexander Prokhorov, who noted that the book "presentation of the physical bases of dielectric resonators is in harmony with a comprehensive review of the engineering theory-based devices, as well as issues related to their development and application of modern radio relay stations and communication systems of the new generation". In recent years the books covered thoroughly modern advances radio and microwave equipment and their use in the construction of advanced information systems. In particular, the two-volume study "Microwave devices of telecommunication systems" by academician N.G. Nakhodkin described as "the worthy successor to the now classic earlier works on microwave technology".
An important scientific contributions of the scientist became the basis for organizing a new department in the Kiev Polytechnic, scientific and educational institutions, providing high quality training in the field of telecommunications. Distinguished Professor of NTUU "KPI", an honorary member of IEEE (USA) M.J.Il’chenko and his scientific school (which is more than 20 doctors and candidates of science) recognized in Ukraine and other countries. Therefore, as rightly pointed out in his review vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nobel laureate Jaures Ivanovych Alferov, "Professor M.J.Il’chenko with his outstanding scientific contribution and organizational activity promotes strengthening the authority of Ukrainian scientific school".
M. Zgurovsky, Rector of NTUU "KPI", academician.
Translated by Trufanova Alina, LA-02