Band-1 receiver front-end cartridges for Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA): design and development toward production

The ALMA Band-1 receiver front-end prototype cold and warm cartridge assemblies, including the system and key components for ALMA Band-1 receivers have been developed and two sets of prototype cartridge were fully tested. The measured aperture efficiency for the cold receiver is above the 80% specification except for a few frequency points. Based on the cryogenically cooled broadband low-noise amplifiers provided by NRAO, the receiver noise temperature can be as low as 15 – 32K for pol-0 and 17 – 30K for pol-1. Other key testing items are also measured. The receiver beam pattern is measured, the results is well fit to the simulation and design. The pointing error extracted from the measured beam pattern indicates the error is 0.1 degree along azimuth and 0.15 degree along elevation, which is well fit to the specification (smaller than 0.4 degree). The equivalent hot load temperature for 5% gain compression is 492 - 4583K, which well fit to the specification of 5% with 373K input thermal load. The image band suppression is higher than 30 dB typically and the worst case is higher than 20 dB for 34GHz RF signal and 38GHz LO signal, which is all higher than 7 dB required specification. The cross talk between orthogonal polarization is smaller than -85 dB based on present prototype LO. The amplitude stability is below 2.0 x 10-7 , which is fit to the specification of 4.0 x 10-7 for timescales in the range of 0.05 s ≤ T ≤ 100 s. The signal path phase stability measured is smaller than 5 fs, which is smaller than 22 fs for Long term (delay drift) 20 s ≤ T < 300 sec. The IF output phase variation is smaller than 3.5° rms typically, and the specification is less than 4.5° rms. The measured IF output power level is -28 to -30.5 dBm with 300K input load. The measured IF output power flatness is less than 5.6 dB for 2GHz window, and 1.3dB for 31MHz window. The first batch of prototype cartridges will be installed on site for further commissioning on July of 2017.

[1]  Ted Huang,et al.  Alternative optics design for the ALMA band 1 receiver (35–52 GHz) , 2015, 2015 9th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP).

[2]  M. A. Morgan,et al.  Graphical Prediction of Trapped Mode Resonances in Sub-mm and THz Waveguide Networks , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology.

[3]  Yuh-Jing Hwang,et al.  Strategies on solar observation of Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) band-1 receiver , 2016, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[4]  Yo-Shen Lin,et al.  Development of receiver and local oscillator components for Atacama large millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA) band-1 in Taiwan , 2012, Other Conferences.

[5]  S. Asayama,et al.  Effects of cryostat infrared filters on the performance of ALMA band 1 (35–52 GHz) receiver optics , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (APSURSI).

[6]  Marian W. Pospieszalski,et al.  Ultra low noise cryogenic amplifiers for radio astronomy , 2013, 2013 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium.

[7]  Yuh-Jing Hwang,et al.  A 35–50 GHz triple cascode mixer module with intermediate frequency of 4–12 GHz based on low noise GaAs PHEMT process , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology (RFIT).

[8]  Zuo-Min Tsai,et al.  A 24–48 GHz cascode HEMT mixer with DC to 15 GHz IF bandwidth for astronomy radio telescope , 2009, 2009 European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC).

[9]  Yo-Shen Lin,et al.  Cryogenic testing and multi-chip module design of a 31.3-45GHz MHEMT MMIC-based heterodyne receiver for radio astronomy , 2008, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[10]  P. M. Koch,et al.  The Science Cases for Building a Band 1 Receiver Suite for ALMA , 2009, 1310.1604.

[11]  Yuh-Jing Hwang,et al.  Development of band-1 receiver cartridge for Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[12]  Doug Henke,et al.  Design of the optical system for ALMA band 1 , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[13]  Doug Henke,et al.  Revisiting the ALMA Band 1 Optics Design , 2010 .

[14]  Nicolas Reyes,et al.  Construction and Measurement of a 31.3–45 GHz Optimized Spline-profile Horn with Corrugations , 2012 .

[15]  Chau-Ching Chiong,et al.  A high LO-to-RF isolation 32–52 GHz triple cascode down-conversion mixer with 2–12 GHz IF bandwidth for ALMA band-1 , 2014, 2014 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference.

[16]  Doug Henke,et al.  Minimizing RF Performance Spikes in a Cryogenic Orthomode Transducer (OMT) , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.