Title :
A 490 GHz SIS receiver for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Author :
Ellison, B.N. ; Jones, B. N Ellisonty A ; Claude, S.M.X. ; Matheson, D.N. ; Little, L.T.
Author_Institution :
Millimetre Technol. Group, Rutherford Appleton Lab., Didcot, UK
Abstract :
The authors report the construction of an superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) tunnel junction heterodyne receiver for use over the frequency range 450 to 500 GHz. The receiver uses a reduced height waveguide mount and Pb alloy tunnel junction as the detecting element and a quintupling multiplier to generate the local oscillator frequency. Preliminary performance measurements made with two different junctions have revealed a total system double sideband noise temperature of 180 K at 460 GHz and 280 K at 490 GHz, measured over a 1 GHz instantaneous IF bandwidth centred at 4 GHz. The system will be installed at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Hawaii, and is intended to be used for the investigation of molecular species existing in the interstellar medium.<>
Keywords :
radio receivers; radiotelescopes; solid-state microwave circuits; submillimetre wave devices; superconducting junction devices; 450 to 500 GHz; Hawaii; IF bandwidth; JCMT; James Clerk Maxwell Telescope; Pb alloy tunnel junction; SIS tunnel junction; THF; detecting element; double sideband noise temperature; heterodyne receiver; local oscillator frequency; quintupling multiplier; reduced height waveguide mount; superconductor-insulator-superconductor; Microwave circuits; Radio astronomy; Radio receivers; Submillimeter wave devices;
Conference_Titel :
Millimetre and Sub-Millimetre Wave Heterodyne Receivers, IEE Colloquium on
Conference_Location :
London, UK
