The Submillimeter Array



Receiver Lab Talks: 2024


Questions: Edward Tong
Time: Wednesday 1:00 PM EST/EDT
Where: Zoom

Date Speaker Title Summary
Feb 28Keara Carter
CfA
On the Progress of the ngEHT 86/115 GHz Receiver The unveiling of the first image of a black hole, achieved through the collaborative efforts of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2019, is a pivotal moment in astronomy. The next generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT) is now poised to deepen our understanding of black holes through a leap in observational capabilities. The Receiver Lab is headquarters for the development of the 86/115 GHz receiver, designed to leverage the Frequency Phase Transfer Technique (FPT) to further increase the overall sensitivity of the ngEHT. This presentation will outline the receiver subsystem, detail the progress made, and explore the exciting work that lies ahead.
Jan 31Matt Morgan
NRAO
Integrated Receiver Development The Integrated Receiver Development program at the NRAO aims to develop compact, mass-producible, and field-replaceable front-end hardware for the next generation of radio telescope facilities. Design principles include early digitaization, as near to the telescope focal plane as possible, and relatively seamless integration of analog, digital and photonic technologies into lightweight, low-overhead, front-end modules. The architecture is optimized to exploit the complementarity of integrated construction techniques and digital signal processing, achieving a level of precision and stability that is unmatched by other radio astronomical receivers. This talk will provide an introduction to the development philosophy, an overview of the team's technical capabilities, and presentation of some of the past, current and ongoing developments, including a suite of warm electronics modules being desinged for the Next Generation Very large Array (ngVLA).
Jan 24Matthew Petroff
CfA
The Precursor Small Aperture Telescope (PreSAT) CMB Polarimeter The Precursor Small Aperture Telescope (PreSAT) is envisioned as an early step to the next generation CMB-S4 cosmic microwave background experiment, which will test prototype CMB-S4 components and technologies within an existing BICEP Array receiver, with the aim of enabling full-stack laboratory testing and early risk retirement, along with direct correlation of laboratory component-level performance measurements with deployed system performance. The instrument will utilize new 95/155 GHz dichroic dual-linear-polarization prototype detectors developed for CMB-S4, cooled to 100 mK via a adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator, along with a prototype readout chain and prototype optics manufactured with wide-band anto-reflection coatings. The experience gained by integrating, deploying, and calibrating PreSAT will also help inform planning for CMB-S4 small aperture telescope commissioning, calibration, and operations well in advacne of fabrication of CMB-S4 production hardware. The design and goals of the PreSAT project will be discussed, along with current and near-future laboratory testing plans.



Previous presentations available here: CfA managed Google Drive