OMAyA - a 1mm wavelength focal-plane array receiver for the Large Millimeter Telescope

OMAyA - 用于大型毫米望远镜的 1mm 波长焦平面阵列接收器

• 批准号: 2307371
• 负责人: Gopal Narayanan
• 金额: $ 69.08万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2307371&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OMAyA; 1mm; wavelength; focal; plane

New stars are formed in enormous regions of cold gas and dust called giant molecular clouds. The properties of such regions can be studied using radio spectroscopic observations. These gas clouds contain many atomic species and simple molecules that produce spectral lines in this wavelength range. Spectroscopic observations not only reveal the physical and chemical properties of star-forming regions but can also measure the complex gas motions. This project will complete the construction of a sensitive multi-pixel receiver system called OMAyA (One Millimeter-wave Array for Astronomy), which will be installed and commissioned on the 50-meter diameter Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) in Mexico. The additional advantage of a low atmospheric loss provided by the high mountain-top location will enable sensitive scientific observations of distant galaxies, clouds in our own galaxy and comet flybys in the solar system. The receiver will be available to all LMT observers, and 15% of the LMT observing time is freely accessible to any US–based astronomer. This project will complete the construction, installation, and commissioning of OMAyA, a powerful heterodyne focal-plane array receiver system that is designed to operate in the 210 – 280 GHz (~1mm wavelength) atmospheric window. OMAyA will have 8 pixels, each capable of simultaneously measuring 2 spectral lines in 2 polarizations, thus generating 32 distinct spectra with one pointing. Each pixel of OMAyA features a novel mixer block with a high level of integration and is equipped with the ability to detect two orthogonal polarizations, and contains sideband-separation super-conducting mixers. The design and construction of a significant portion of the OMAyA receiver has been completed. In this project, the receiver will be finished and installed on the LMT. As a purely technical advance, this project will implement a high level of integration of mixer, amplifier, local oscillator injection components in an innovative dual-polarized sideband separation system that will be used throughout the field of heterodyne focal-plane arrays. As a facility instrument on the LMT available for American and Mexican astronomers, OMAyA will enable exciting new scientific observing programs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

新的恒星是在巨大的冷气和尘埃区域中形成的，称为巨型分子云。可以使用无线电光谱观测来研究此类区域的特性。这些气云中包含许多原子种类和在此波长范围内产生光谱线的简单分子。光谱观测不仅揭示了星形区域的物理和化学特性，而且还可以测量复杂的气体运动。该项目将完成一个敏感的多像素接收器系统，称为Omaya（用于天文学的一个毫米波阵列），该系统将在墨西哥的50米直径大毫米望远镜（LMT）上安装和委托。高山顶位置提供的低大气损失的额外优势将使对遥远星系，我们自己的星系中的云和太阳系中的彗星flybys进行敏感的科学观察。接收器将适用于所有LMT观察者，而LMT观察时间的15％可以免费访问任何基于美国的天文学家。该项目将完成Omaya的构建，安装和调试，Omaya是一个强大的杂型焦距阵列接收器系统，旨在在210 - 280 GHz（〜1mm波长）大气窗口中运行。 Omaya将具有8个像素，每个像素能够同时测量2个极化中的2个光谱线，从而产生32个不同的光谱，一个指向。 Omaya的每个像素都有一个具有高水平的整合的新型混合器块，并且与检测两个正交极化的能力相等，并且包含边界分离超导式混合器。 Omaya接收器的很大一部分的设计和构建已经完成。在此项目中，接收器将完成并安装在LMT上。作为纯粹的技术进步，该项目将在创新的双极化边带分离系统中实施高水平的混合器，放大器，局部振荡器注入组件的集成，该系统将在整个杂化焦点平面阵列的整个领域中使用。作为美国和墨西哥天文学家可用的LMT的设施工具，Omaya将启用令人兴奋的新科学观察计划。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估评估来支持的。