The Large APEX Bolometer Camera LABOCA

摘要

A new facility instrument, the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA), developed by the Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie (MPIfR, Bonn, Germany), has been commissioned in May 2007 for operation onthe Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope (APEX), a 12 m submillimeter radio telescope located at 5100 maltitude on Llano de Chajnantor in northern Chile. For mapping, this 295-bolometer camera for the 870 micronatmospheric window operates in total power mode without wobbling the secondary mirror. One LABOCA beamis 19 arcsec FWHM and the field of view of the complete array covers 100 square arcmin. Combined with thehigh efficiency of APEX and the excellent atmospheric transmission at the site, LABOCA offers unprecedentedcapability in large scale mapping of submillimeter continuum emission. Details of design and operation arepresented.