Previous | Session 173 | Next | Author Index | Block Schedule
D.J. Benford, J.A. Chervenak (NASA / GSFC), M.J. Devlin, S.R. Dicker (U.Penn), K.D. Irwin (NIST / Boulder), S.H. Moseley (NASA / GSFC), C.D. Reintsema (NIST / Boulder), J.G. Staguhn (NASA / GSFC & SSAI), E.J. Wollack (NASA / GSFC)
In order to provide high sensitivity rapid imaging at 3.3~mm (90~GHz) for the Penn Array Receiver (PAR) on the Green Bank Telescope the world's largest steerable aperture, a fully-sampled, sensitive, fast detector array with many pixels is required. We have fabricated as the heart of this camera an 8\times 8 close-packed, Nyquist-sampled array of superconducting bolometers using a monolithic planar architecture. The detector system includes readout by SQUID multiplexers, controlled by a set of custom electronics and software. The superconducting transition edge sensors provide fast, linear, sensitive response for high performance imaging. We present the design and perfomance of the detectors in this array system, including thermal performance and noise measurements near the theoretical limit. This detector will provide the first superconducting bolometer array on a facility instrument. With its combination of near-background-limited sensitivity and 32'' square field of view at 3.3~mm wavelength, this camera will be a powerful instrument for obtaining flux density measurements of highly redshifted sources. For example, the well-known quasar \rm APM~08279+5255 will be detectable in dust continuum emission in one second.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dominic.benford@nasa.gov
Previous | Session 173 | Next
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.