Octave bandwidth receiver technology for radio and millimetre-wave telescopes

Abstract

In radio astronomy instrumentation, the benefit of increased spectral grasp must be evaluated against a decrease in overall system performance (e.g., system noise, stability, and optical efficiency) and considerable effort has gone into quantifying the best overall choice to define receiver bands for a particular telescope; present examples include the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) where the higher bands do not exceed a bandwidth of 1.7:1. During the last two years, NRC Herzberg has been researching wide bandwidth waveguide and active components in order to extend the bandwidth to a full 2:1 octave bandwidth. We report on recent innovation in front-end receiver components, including an octave bandwidth feed horn, OMT, and LNA, to enable wideband science