A One Millimeter Wavelength Focal Plane Array Receiver for the LMT

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project seeks to construct a 16-element array receiver system called OMAR (One Millimeter-wave Array Receiver) at the 50 m Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) located in Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico. OMAR will be installed as a common-user facility instrument, available for American astronomers. LMT is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica, y Electronica (INAOE). OMAR is designed to operate in the 210 - 280 GHz (~1 mm wavelength) atmospheric window, and will be equipped with state-of-the-art receivers. OMAR will build on the proven experience and the heritage of success of the UMass instrumentation group in building state-of-the-art focal plane arrays. OMAR will provide an unprecedented combination of sensitivity, mapping speed, spectral coverage, spatial and spectral resolution in the 1 mm band, that will enable a wide variety of scientific projects covering the gamut of distant galaxies to comet flybys in our own solar system. OMAR will be the first heterodyne array receiver at millimeter wavelengths that is equipped with sideband-separation super-conducting receivers. In each pixel, 8 GHz of effective bandwidth per sideband (16 GHz total) will be available without the use of mechanical tuners. OMAR will be deployed as a 16 element dual polarization array which will be arranged in a 2x4 (8 beams) format. OMAR will be used with on-the-fly (OTF) mapping mode to provide an unprecedented combination of sensitivity, mapping speed, spectral coverage, spatial and spectral resolution in the 1 mm band. OMAR is a technically innovative instrument that will define the state-of-the-art for SIS heterodyne array receivers. As a purely technical advance, this project will implement a high level of integration of mixer, amplifier, local oscillator injection components in a innovative sideband separation system that will have a significant impact in the field of heterodyne focal-plane arrays.