Title :
CASIMIR: The Caltech Airborne Submillimeter Interstellar Medium Investigations Receiver
Author :
Edgar, Michael L. ; Harris, Andrew I. ; Karpov, Alexandre ; Lin, Sean ; Miller, David ; Radford, Simon J E ; Rice, Frank ; Zmuidzinas, Jonas
Author_Institution :
California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA
Abstract :
CASIMIR, the Caltech Airborne Submillimeter Interstellar Medium Investigations Receiver, is a far infrared and submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer under development for the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA. CASIMIR will carry out observations in the frequency range from 500 GHz up to 1.4 THz, with extremely high spectral resolution, of order 106. Capitalizing on recent advances in SIS mixer development, CASIMIR will cover this region of the spectrum with unprecedented sensitivity. CASIMIR is extremely well suited to observe the warm, ~100 K, interstellar medium, particularly water lines, in both Galactic and extragalactic sources.
Keywords :
astronomical instruments; heterodyne detection; infrared spectrometers; interstellar matter; submillimetre astronomy; submillimetre wave receivers; CASIMIR; Caltech airborne submillimeter interstellar medium investigation receiver; SIS mixer; extragalactic sources; far infrared spectrometer; frequency 500 GHz to 1.4 THz; interstellar medium; submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer; water lines; water lines sources; Astronomy; Frequency; Infrared spectra; Instruments; Optical mixing; Optical receivers; Optical sensors; Space technology; Spectroscopy; Telescopes;
Conference_Titel :
Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves, 2008. IRMMW-THz 2008. 33rd International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Pasadena, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2119-0
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2120-6
DOI :
10.1109/ICIMW.2008.4665439
