A new generation of SIS receivers for millimeter-wave radio astronomy

Author

Payne, John M. ; Lamb, James W. ; Cochran, Jackie G. ; Bailey, Nancyjane

Author_Institution

Nat. Radio Astron. Obs., Tucson, AZ, USA

Volume

82

Issue

5

fYear

1994

fDate

5/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

811

Lastpage

823

Abstract

A new generation of low-noise, dual-polarization heterodyne receivers covering all atmospheric windows between 68 and 300 GHz has been developed for the 12-m telescope on Kitt Peak, AZ, operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). A modular approach to the receiver construction has been used. Each receiver channel is constructed as a self-contained insert which is mounted in a dewar equipped with a closed-cycle 4 K refrigerator capable of cooling up to eight inserts, thereby enabling several frequency bands to be contained within one dewar. The telescope and receiver optics are so arranged that switching between frequency bands may be accomplished rapidly by rotating the optical elements placed in the signal path. Single-sideband noise temperatures ranging from 50 to 400 K are obtained across the frequency range

Keywords

low-temperature techniques; mixers (circuits); radio receivers; radiotelescopes; 12-m telescope; 68 to 300 GHz; EHF; Kitt Peak; MM-wave radio astronomy; NRAO; National Radio Astronomy Observatory; SIS receivers; dewar; frequency bands; low-noise dual-polarization heterodyne receivers; optical elements; receiver channel; receiver construction; refrigerator; self-contained insert; single-sideband noise temperatures; switching; Cooling; Frequency; Modular construction; Observatories; Optical mixing; Optical noise; Optical receivers; Radio astronomy; Refrigeration; Telescopes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Proceedings of the IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9219

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/5.284748

Filename

284748