DocumentCode :
33906
Title :
Receiver Performance of the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) on the International Space Station
Author :
Ochiai, Satoshi ; Kikuchi, Kazuro ; Nishibori, T. ; Manabe, Takeshi ; Ozeki, Hidemasa ; Mizobuchi, S. ; Irimajiri, Yoshihisa
Author_Institution :
Appl. Electromagn. Res. Inst., Nat. Inst. of Inf. & Commun. Technol., Koganei, Japan
Volume :
51
Issue :
7
fYear :
2013
fDate :
Jul-13
Firstpage :
3791
Lastpage :
3802
Abstract :
Superconducting devices were used to make atmospheric limb observations from space for the first time. The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) is a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) receiver in frequency bands of 625 and 650 GHz. SMILES was deployed on the International Space Station. SMILES observed atmospheric limb spectra for six months from October 2009 to April 2010. The sensitivity of the receiver is the most important performance parameter for microwave atmospheric limb observation, in which the receiver measures, sometimes very weak, thermal line emissions. The SMILES SIS receivers demonstrated limb observations with a sensitivity more than one order of magnitude better than that of conventional limb sensors. The sensitivity of the SMILES receivers in space was 315 K-322 K in a definition of single-sideband system noise temperature at the antenna; this met the instrument requirement with a large margin. The SMILES-receiver stability also met the requirement; the stability time of the receiver was 8 s (and 500 s for spectroscopic data) in a frequency resolution of about 1.1 MHz. Although the stability time is shorter than the calibration period (53 s) in operational observation, the variance increment by the drift noise is found to be insignificant. The temperature resolution for the continuum signal is estimated to be better than 0.27 K. There was no evidence that the stability of the SIS receiver was influenced by the temperature fluctuation of the 4-K cooling system, which consists of a two-stage Stirling cooler and a Joule-Thomson cycle cooler. The suppression of baseline ripples is another important performance parameter of the receiver for spectral measurement like the SMILES receivers. As a result of our design of low-standing-wave optics, we found no baseline ripple in the observed spectra of SMILES in practical level.
Keywords :
Joule-Thomson effect; antennas; atmospheric measuring apparatus; atmospheric spectra; atmospheric temperature; calibration; receivers; sensors; superconducting devices; AD 2009 10 to 2010 04; International Space Station; Joule-Thomson cycle cooler; SMILES SIS receivers; SMILES-receiver stability; Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder; antenna; atmospheric limb spectra; baseline ripple suppression; calibration period; continuum signal; conventional limb sensors; cooling system; drift noise; frequency 625 GHz; frequency 650 GHz; frequency resolution; low-standing-wave optics; microwave atmospheric limb observation; operational observation; performance parameter; receiver measures; receiver performance; single-sideband system noise temperature; spectral measurement; spectroscopic data; stability time; superconducting devices; superconductor-insulator-superconductor receiver; temperature 315 K to 322 K; temperature 4 K; temperature fluctuation; temperature resolution; thermal line emissions; two-stage Stirling cooler; Antenna feeds; Atmospheric measurements; Calibration; Extraterrestrial measurements; Noise; Receivers; Temperature measurement; Atmospheric measurement; microwave radiometry; radiometer calibration; spaceborne radiometer; submillimeter-wave receiver;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0196-2892
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TGRS.2012.2227758
Filename :
6423279
Link To Document :
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