A low-noise 810 GHz heterodyne receiver for molecular-line astronomy

Author

Davies, S.R. ; Ellison, B.N. ; Price, M.C. ; Little, L.T. ; White, G.J. ; Natale, V. ; Jackson, B.D. ; Matheson, D.N.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Univ. of Bath, UK

fYear

2004

fDate

27 Sept.-1 Oct. 2004

Firstpage

773

Lastpage

774

Abstract

A low-noise 810 GHz heterodyne receiver for astronomy is described. The mixer consists of a NbTiN SIS junction, mounted in a half-height rectangular waveguide mixer block. The receiver has been successfully tested on the UK Infrared Telescope, Hawaii, with a DSB system noise temperature of 280 K at 808 GHz. Observations of several astronomical sources have verified the sensitivity of the instrument.

Keywords

astronomical instruments; microwave mixers; niobium compounds; rectangular waveguides; superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixers; titanium compounds; 280 K; 808 GHz; 810 GHz; DSB system noise; NbTiN; NbTiN SIS junction; UK Infrared Telescope; astronomical sources; heterodyne receiver; low noise receiver; molecular line astronomy; rectangular waveguide mixer; Astronomy; Helium; Mirrors; Optical beams; Optical receivers; Optical surface waves; Physics; Rectangular waveguides; Telescopes; Waveguide junctions;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Infrared and Millimeter Waves, 2004 and 12th International Conference on Terahertz Electronics, 2004. Conference Digest of the 2004 Joint 29th International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8490-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICIMW.2004.1422322

Filename

1422322