Heterodyne Receiver Development at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory

摘要

The Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) operates at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at an elevation of 4200 m. The site was chosen for its very dry climate and stable atmosphere, enabling submillimeter observations in the astrophysically important 1.3 mm to 300 μm atmospheric windows. Ever since its inception, the CSO has proven itself to be a productive test-bed for new detector technologies. In this paper we review the heterodyne (coherent) receiver development at the CSO, and highlight some of the ways it has helped to shape the field of submillimeter and terahertz high spectral resolution far-infrared astronomy.