The Ka-band receiver for the QUIJOTE experiment

Author

Cano, Juan L. ; Villa, Enrique ; Aja, Beatriz ; De la Fuente, Luisa ; Arta, Eduardo ; Watson, Robert ; Blackhurst, Edward ; Edgley, John ; Baines, Colin

Author_Institution

Dept. Ing. de Comun., Univ. de Cantabria, Santander, Spain

fYear

2011

fDate

10-13 Oct. 2011

Firstpage

1181

Lastpage

1184

Abstract

The 26-36 GHz receiver for a radio astronomy radiometer, to characterize the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background, is presented. This receiver is based on very low noise cryogenically cooled amplifiers in the front-end module, while in the back-end module a broadband amplification and direct detection chain is operated at room temperature. Noise temperature of the low-noise amplifier (LNA) is 19 K when cooled at 18 K. Experimental results show a good sensitivity of the complete receiver with an effective bandwidth around 8 GHz. Moreover, output detected voltages agree with estimated values.

Keywords

low noise amplifiers; microwave amplifiers; radio receivers; radioastronomy; radiometers; Ka-band receiver; LNA; QUIJOTE experiment; back-end module; broadband amplification; cosmic microwave background; direct detection chain; frequency 26 GHz to 36 GHz; front-end module; low noise cryogenically cooled amplifiers; low-noise amplifier; noise temperature; radio astronomy radiometer; temperature 18 K; temperature 19 K; temperature 293 K to 298 K; Finite element methods; Gain; Microwave radiometry; Noise; Radio frequency; Receivers; Sensitivity; HEMT; InP; cryogenic amplifiers; radio astronomy; radiometer; radiometry; very low noise receivers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Conference (EuMC), 2011 41st European

Conference_Location

Manchester

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-235-6

Type

conf

Filename

6101781