Alessandro Navarrini

Status of the Sardinia Radio Telescope project

We present the status of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT) project, a new general purpose, fully steerable 64 m diameter parabolic radiotelescope capable to operate with high efficiency in the 0.3-116 GHz frequency range. The instrument is the result of a scientific and technical collaboration among three Structures of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF): the Institute of Radio Astronomy of Bologna, the Cagliari Astronomy Observatory (in Sardinia,) and the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory in Florence. Funding agencies are the Italian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, the Sardinia Regional Government, and the Italian Space Agency (ASI,) that has recently rejoined the project. The telescope site is about 35 km North of Cagliari. The radio telescope has a shaped Gregorian optical configuration with a 7.9 m diameter secondary mirror and supplementary Beam-WaveGuide (BWG) mirrors. With four possible focal positions (primary, Gregorian, and two BWGs), SRT will be able to allocate up to 20 remotely controllable receivers. One of the most advanced technical features of the SRT is the active surface: the primary mirror will be composed by 1008 panels supported by electromechanical actuators digitally controlled to compensate for gravitational deformations. With the completion of the foundation on spring 2006 the SRT project entered its final construction phase. This paper reports on the latest advances on the SRT project.

The dual-band LP feed system for the Sardinia Radio Telescope prime focus

We present the design of the passive feed system of the dual-band receiver for the prime focus of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), a new 64 m diameter radio telescope which is being built in Sardinia, Italy. The feed system operates simultaneously in P-band (305-410 MHz) and L-band (1300-1800 MHz). The room temperature illuminators are arranged in coaxial configuration with an inner circular waveguide for L-band (diameter of 19 cm) and an outer coaxial waveguide for P-band (diameter of 65 cm). Choke flanges are used outside the coaxial section to improve the crosspolarization performance and the back scattering of the P-band feed. The geometry was optimized for compactness and high antenna efficiency in both bands using commercial electromagnetic simulators. Four probes arranged in symmetrical configuration are used in both the P and the L-band feeds to extract dual-linearly polarized signals and to combine them, through phased-matched coaxial cables, into 180 deg hybrid couplers. A vacuum vessel encloses the two P-band hybrids and the two L-band hybrids which are cooled, respectively at 15 K and 77 K. For the P-Band, four low loss coaxial feedthroughs are used to cross the vacuum vessel, while for the L-Band a very low loss large window is employed. The P-band hybrids are based on a microstrip rat-race design with fractal geometry. The L-band hybrids are based on an innovative double-ridged waveguide design that also integrates a band-pass filter for Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) mitigation.

A Compact L-Band Orthomode Transducer for Radio Astronomical Receivers at Cryogenic Temperature

We describe the design, construction, and performance of a compact orthomode transducer (OMT) for the L-band receiver (1.3-1.8 GHz) of the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT). The complete OMT consists of a cylindrical orthomode junction (OMJ), which is presented in this paper, and two identical 180 ° hybrid power combiners in a double-ridged waveguide, which have been proposed in a previous work. The OMT operates at the cryogenic temperature of 20 K to reduce its thermal noise contribution to the noise of the receiving chain. Therefore, particular care has been taken in the design of the OMJ to minimize its dimension and insure a good thermalization. The proposed OMT has been designed and optimized by using CST Microwave Studio, and then manufactured, tested at room temperature, and installed on the L-band receiver of the SRT. The measured results fully comply with the design specifications. In particular, the isolation between the OMT output ports is more than 40 dB, and the cross polarization is less than -35 dB for both polarization channels.

L-band orthomode transducer for the Sardinia Radio Telescope

We describe the design, construction, and characterization results of a compact L-band (1.3-1.8 GHz) Orthomode Transducer (OMT) for the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), a 64 m diameter telescope which is being built in the Sardinia island, Italy. The OMT consists of three distinct mechanical parts connected through ultra low loss coaxial cables: a turnstile junction and two identical 180° hybrid power combiners. The turnstile junction is based on a circular waveguide input (diameter of 190 mm,) and on four WR650 rectangular waveguide cavities from which the RF signals are extracted using coaxial probes. The OMT was optimized using a commercial 3D electromagnetic simulator. The main mechanical part of the turnstile junction was machined out of an Aluminum block whose final external shape is a cylinder with diameter 450 mm and height 98 mm. From 1.3 to 1.8 GHz the measured reflection coefficient was less than -22 dB, the isolation between the outputs was less than -45 dB, and the cross polarization was less than -50 dB for both polarization channels.

A Waveguide Orthomode Transducer for 385-500 GHz

We describe the design, construction, and performance of a waveguide Orthomode Transducer (OMT) for the 385-500 GHz band. The OMT is based on a symmetric backward coupling structure with a square waveguide input (0.56x0.56 mm2) and two single-mode waveguide outputs: a standard WR2.2 waveguide (0.56x0.28 mm2) and an oval waveguide with full-radius corners. The OMT is rescaled from a lower frequency design that was developed for the 3 mm band; it was optimized using a commercial 3D electromagnetic simulator. The OMT consists of two mechanical blocks in split-block configuration, fabricated using a CNC micromilling machine. A first prototype copper alloy OMT employing standard UG387 flanges at all ports was fabricated and tested. From 385 to 500 GHz the measured input reflection coefficient was less than -10 dB, the isolation between the outputs was less than -25 dB, the cross polarization was less than -10 dB, and the transmission was ≈-2 dB at room temperature for both polarization channels. The effects of misalignment errors in the OMT performance were studied using electromagnetic simulation. A second OMT version utilizing custom made mini-flanges and much shorter waveguides was designed and will be tested soon. This novel OMT is more tolerant to misalignment errors of the block halves and is expected to have much improved performance over the first prototype.

The Front-End of the NOEMA Interferometer

The IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) is being upgraded to a new powerful millimeter-wave radio astronomy facility called the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) which will double the number of the 15-m diameter antennas from six to 12. All antennas will be equipped with a new generation of dual-polarization Front-End covering the 72-373-GHz frequency range with four independent receivers integrated into a single cryostat. All receivers utilize sideband separating (2SB) superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers, each of which delivers two ~7.7-GHz-wide intermediate frequency (IF) outputs per polarization channel, thus increasing the total IF bandwidth which can be processed with a single setting of the interferometer from 8 GHz (2 ×4 GHz delivered by the existing PdBI Front-End) to ~31 GHz (4 × ~ 7.7 GHz delivered by the NOEMA Front-End). The first of the new NOEMA antennas (Ant. 7) has recently been completed and the first NOEMA Front-End successfully developed and installed in it. For the coming years, our goal is to upgrade all of the Front-Ends currently installed on the six existing PdBI antennas to the new NOEMA standard and to build six additional ones (plus one spare) for the new NOEMA antennas. In this paper, we describe the design, fabrication, and assembly of the Front-End we have developed for NOEMA Antenna 7. The instrument has state-of-the-art performance and sets a new standard in the post-ALMA generation technology.

The IF Output Impedance of SIS Mixers

In this paper, we describe a measurement setup to characterize the intermediate frequency (IF) impedance of cryogenically cooled superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers. A setup based on a commercial vector network analyzer (VNA), a circulator and a low noise amplifier (LNA) has allowed to increase the dynamic of the VNA and to perform accurate one-port measurements across a high dynamic range of the SIS mixers IF band. The mixers were biased in three different regions of their unpumped IV curve to obtain three known impedances which are close to the classical calibration SOLT standards (Short, Open, Load, Thru): the reference plane was located at the SIS junction itself and the calibration procedure allowed to calibrate out all IF circuitry of the measurement setup, including the on-chip SIS mixer intrinsic capacitance and inductance without requiring to thermally cycle and open the cryostat to locate and measure the different calibration standards. Thus, the devised method provides a simple and direct measurement of the SIS mixers IF impedance which can be used for quick, accurate and highly repeatable IF characterization of any type of millimeter and sub-millimeter wave SIS mixers. The measurement method is described and the experimental results of the IF output impedances of 3 mm band DSB and SSB mixers with 4 GHz wide IFs (across 4-8 GHz) are presented and compared with simulated predictions obtained from combining Tuckers SIS mixer theory and accurate electromagnetic modeling of the mixer structure.

A compact L-band Ortho Mode Junction

We describe the design construction and performance of a L-band (1300-1800 MHz) Ortho Mode Junction for the L-P dual-band receiver to be installed on the 64 m Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT), a new radio telescope which is being built in Sardinia, Italy. The Ortho Mode Junction (OMJ) separates two orthogonal linearly polarized signals propagating in a 172 mm diameter circular waveguide and couple them into four coaxial outputs. The OMJ is part of an OMT (Ortho Mode Transducer), which includes two 1800 hybrids allowing to recombine the out-of-phase signals from the balanced OMJ outputs. The OMJ consists of four probes arranged in symmetrical configuration across the circular waveguide. A shaped tuning stub with cylindrical profile is placed a quarter wavelength away from the probes to guarantee broadband operation with low reflection coefficient across L-band. The four identical probes have a cylindrical structure, each consisting of three concentric cylinders that attach to the central pin of standard 50 Ω 7/16-type coaxial connectors. The OMJ will be cooled at 80 K inside a compact dewar together with directional couplers and Low Noise Amplifiers. The two linearly polarized signals from an input 190 mm diameter room temperature L-band feed couple into the cryogenic dewar through a vacuum window located across the waveguide. Inside the dewar, the 190 mm diameter circular waveguide is tapered down to 172 mm using a conical transition (length 85 mm) filled with a Styrodur® foam that provides mechanical support for a 0.125 mm thick Kapton vacuum barrier. A 0.6 mm air gap across the 172 mm circular waveguide provides thermal decoupling between the ambient temperature and the 80 K OMJ, which is connected to the conical transition output.

High‐performance cryogenic fractal 180° hybrid power divider with integrated directional coupler

A 180° hybrid and a directional coupler to be employed in the P-band cryogenic receiver of the Sardinia Radio Telescope are proposed in this work. An in-depth study of the issues related to the use of microwave components for cryogenic radio astronomy receivers is carried out to select the best suited technology and configuration. As a result, a planar fractal 180° hybrid configuration available in the literature has been optimized aiming to increase the operating bandwidth in order to comply with the design specifications of the application at hand. A coupled lines directional coupler with weak coupling and high isolation, used to calibrate the receiver chain, is cascaded to the 180° hybrid and realized in the same layout. The final device, consisting of the 180° hybrid and the directional coupler, has been manufactured and tested at the cryogenic temperature of 20 K, showing a good agreement between experimental results and predicted performance.

The 7-beam S-band cryogenic receiver for the SRT primary focus: project status

Existing radio receivers have a very low noise temperature. To further increase the observation speed, the new generation of radio receivers use a multi-beam focal plane array (FPA) together with wide bandwidth. In this article, we present the front-end and cryogenic design of the 7-beam FPA double linear polarization receiver for the 64-m primary focus of the Sardinia Radio Telescope. At the end of this article, we show the simulated performances of the front-end receiver and the measurements of the down-conversion section.