Heterodyne receiver for Origins

Instrumentatio

Antenna coupled kinetic inductance arrays for space and ground based imaging arrays

Very large arrays of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) have the potential to revolutionize ground and space based astronomy. They can offer in excess of 10000 pixels with large dynamic range and very high sensitivity in combination with very efficient frequency division multiplexing at GHz frequencies. In this paper we present the development for a ∼ 100 pixel MKID demonstration array based upon an single pixel consisting of an integrated MKID-antenna detector, with the antenna placed in the second focus of an elliptical Si lens. The design presented can be scaled to any frequency between 80 GHz and >5 THz because there is no need for superconducting structures that become lossy at frequencies above the gap frequency of the materials used. We present measurements of the optical coupling efficiency, sensitivity and discuss array development. We have obtained a dark sensitivity of 7 × 10-19 W/Hz1/2 using 100 nm thick Al devices and an optical coupling efficiency of 35 % referring to the power of a single polarization optical signal in front of the Si lens of the detector. © 2009 American Institute of Physics

Optical design and verification of the sub-millimeter limb sounder TELIS

TELIS (Terahertz and submm Limb Sounder) is cooperation between European institutes, DLR, RAL and SRON, to build a three-channel balloon-borne heterodyne spectrometer for atmospheric research. The optical front-end of the instrument consists of a dual-offset Cassegrain pointing telescope, calibration blackbody and relay optics, common for the three channels. Beam separation between the channels is performed quasioptically by a dichroic filter and a polarizer. After the splitting, the three beams enter liquid helium cooled cryostat, where each receiver has dedicated cold optics and mixer elements. In this paper we present optical design and experimental results of the quasioptical 500 - 650 GHz channel for TELIS. It is based on a phase-locked Superconducting Integrated Receiver (SIR). The SIR chip is placed on the flat back surface of the elliptical silicon lens. Further shaping and relaying of the beam is done by means of reflective optics. Design and validation of the optics, as well as estimation of optical components tolerances, have been performed using commercial software packages ZEMAX and GRASP. In this paper we present experimental results of the amplitude-phase beam pattern measurements of the SIR cold optics performed at 620 GHz. We have also measured amplitude beam pattern of the complete instrument, including the telescope, using the compact range. Results of these tests will be presented at the conference

Simulations of M87 and Sgr A* imaging with the Millimetron Space Observatory on near-Earth orbits

Contains fulltext : 227737.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access