During February 2016, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science and the
Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy installed, commissioned and carried
out science observations with a phased array feed (PAF) receiver system on the
64m diameter Parkes radio telescope. Here we demonstrate that the PAF can be
used for pulsar observations and we highlight some unique capabilities. We
demonstrate that the pulse profiles obtained using the PAF can be calibrated
and that multiple pulsars can be simultaneously observed. Significantly, we
find that an intrinsic polarisation leakage of -31dB can be achieved with a PAF
beam offset from the centre of the field of view. We discuss the possibilities
for using a PAF for future pulsar observations and for searching for fast radio
bursts with the Parkes and Effelsberg telescopes.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. It has been accepted for publication
in PAS