The epoch of reionization spectrometer (EoR-Spec) is an instrument module that will be deployed in the Prime-Cam receiver on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), which is a 6m off-axis telescope for the CCAT-prime facility. FYST is currently being built in the Atacama Desert in Chile at an altitude of 5600 m. With the Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI), EoR-Spec will measure the 158 µm [CII] line intensity at redshifts from 3.5 to 8 (420 to 210 GHz), with the lower redshifts tracing star formation and higher redshifts tracing the late stages of reionization. An EoR-Spec module includes three monolithic and monochroic feedhorn-coupled arrays of kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs), two of which are centered at 260 GHz with the other centered at 370 GHz. We present the design and integration process of the EoR-Spec detector array at both bands. The 370 GHz detector array will consist of 3072 detectors and each of the 260 GHz arrays will consist of 1728 detectors. Each of the detector arrays contains an aluminum feedhorn array and is read out by a few pairs of coaxial cables.
The Epoch of Reionization Spectrometer (EoR-Spec) will be an instrument module for the Prime-Cam receiver on the CCAT-prime Collaboration’s Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), a 6-m primary mirror Crossed Dragone telescope. With its Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI), EoR-Spec will step through frequencies between 210 and 420 GHz to perform line intensity mapping of the 158 µm [CII] line in aggregates of star-forming galaxies between redshifts of 3.5 and 8 to trace the evolution of structure in the Universe during the epoch of reionization. Here we present the optical design of the module including studies of the optical quality and other key parameters at the image surface. In order to achieve the optimal resolving power (R∼100) with the FPI, it is important to have a highly collimated beam at the Lyot stop of the system; the optimization process to achieve this goal with four lenses instead of three as used in other Prime-Cam modules is outlined. As part of the optimization, we test the effect of replacing some of the aspheric lenses with biconic lenses in this Crossed Dragone design and find that the biconic lenses tends to improve the image quality across the focal plane of the module.
The Simons Observatory (SO) is a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) survey experiment that consists of three 0.5 m small-aperture telescopes and one 6 m large-aperture telescope, sited at an elevation of 5200 m in the Atacama Desert in Chile. SO will utilize more than 60,000 transition edge sensors (TES) to observe CMB temperature and polarization in six frequency bands from 27-280 GHz. Common to both the small and large aperture telescope receivers (LATR) is the 300K-4K Universal Readout Harness (URH), which supports up to 600 DC bias lines and 24 radio frequency (RF) channels consisting of input and output coaxial cables, input attenuators and custom high dynamic range 40K low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) on the output readout coaxial cable. Each RF channel can read out up to 1000 TES detectors. In this paper, we will present the design and characterization of the six URHs constructed for the initial phase of SO deployment.
The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) at the Cerro-Chajnantor Atacama Telescope prime (CCATprime) Facility will host Prime-Cam as a powerful, first generation camera with imaging polarimeters working at several wavelengths and spectroscopic instruments aimed at intensity mapping during the Epoch of Reionization. Here we introduce the 850 GHz (350 micron) instrument module. This will be the highest frequency module in Prime-Cam and the most novel for astronomical and cosmological surveys, taking full advantage of the atmospheric transparency at the high 5600 meter CCAT-prime siting on Cerro Chajnantor. The 850 GHz module will deploy ∼40,000 Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) with Silicon platelet feedhorn coupling (both fabricated at NIST), and will provide unprecedented broadband intensity and polarization measurement capabilities. The 850 GHz module will be key to addressing pressing astrophysical questions regarding galaxy formation, Big Bang cosmology, and star formation within our own Galaxy. We present the motivation and overall design for the module, and initial laboratory characterization.
KEYWORDS: Signal to noise ratio, Digital signal processing, Resonators, Sensors, Signal attenuation, Multiplexing, Frequency combs, Data conversion, Inductance
The Prime-Cam instrument on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) is expected to be the largest deployment of millimeter and submillimeter sensitive kinetic inductance detectors to date. To read out these arrays efficiently, a microwave frequency multiplexed readout has been designed to run on the Xilinx Radio Frequency System on a Chip (RFSoC). The RFSoC has dramatically improved every category of size, weight, power, cost, and bandwidth over the previous generation readout systems. We describe a baseline firmware design which can read out four independent RF networks each with 500 MHz of bandwidth and 1000 detectors for ∼30 W. The overall readout architecture is a combination of hardware, gateware/firmware, software, and network design. The requirements of the readout are driven by the 850 GHz instrument module of the seven-module Prime-Cam instrument. These requirements along with other constraints which have led to critical design choices are highlighted. Preliminary measurements of the system phase noise and dynamic range are presented.
Mod-Cam is a first light and commissioning instrument for the CCAT-prime project’s six-meter aperture Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), currently under construction at 5600 m on Cerro Chajnantor in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Prime-Cam, a first-generation science instrument for FYST, will deliver over ten times greater mapping speed than current and near-term facilities for unprecedented 280–850 GHz broadband and spectroscopic measurements with microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). CCAT-prime will address a suite of science goals, from Big Bang cosmology to star formation and galaxy evolution over cosmic time. Mod-Cam deployment on FYST with a 280 GHz instrument module containing MKID arrays is planned for early science observations in 2024. Mod-Cam will be used to test instrument modules for Prime-Cam, which can house up to seven instrument modules. We discuss the design and status of the 0.9 m diameter, 1.8 m long Mod-Cam receiver and 40 cm diameter 280 GHz instrument module, with cold stages at 40 K, 4 K, 1 K, and 100 mK. We also describe the instrument module’s cryogenic readout designs to enable the readout of more than 10,000 MKIDs across 18 networks.
The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), which is the telescope of the CCAT-prime project, will be located at 5600 m near the summit of Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile, and will host the modular instrument called Prime-Cam. Two of the instrument modules in Prime-Cam will be a spectrometer with a resolving power of R ∼ 100 and populated with a detector array of several thousand KIDs (Kinetic Inductance Detectors). The main science goal of this spectrometer module, called EoR-Spec, is to probe the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) in the early universe using the Line Intensity Mapping (LIM) technique with the redshifted [CII] fine-structure line. This presentation provides an overview of the optical, mechanical, and spectral design of EoR-Spec, as well as of the detector array that will be used. The optical design consists of four silicon lenses that have anti-reflection metamaterial layers. A scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometer (FPI) will be located at the pupil and provides the spectral resolution over the full spectral coverage of 210 GHz to 420 GHz in two orders, resulting in a redshift coverage of the [CII] line from z = 3.5 to z = 8. The detector array consists of three subarrays of KIDs, two of which are tuned for the frequency range between 210 GHz and 315 GHz, and one that is tuned for the 315 GHz to 420 GHz range. The angular resolution will be between about 30′′ to 50′′. This presentation also addresses the spectral and spatial scanning strategy of EoR-Spec on FYST. EoR-Spec is expected to be installed into Prime-Cam about 1 year after first light of FYST.
This conference presentation was prepared for the Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy XI conference at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022.
KEYWORDS: Bolometers, Observatories, Telescopes, Sensors, Control systems, Data acquisition, Distributed computing, Microwave radiation, Optical instrument design, Control systems design
The Simons Observatory (SO) will be a cosmic microwave background (CMB) survey
experiment with three small-aperture telescopes and one large-aperture
telescope, which will observe from the Atacama Desert in Chile. In total, SO
will field over 60,000 transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers in six spectral
bands centered between 27 and 280 GHz in order to achieve the sensitivity
necessary to measure or constrain numerous cosmological quantities, as outlined
in The Simons Observatory Collaboration et al. (2019). To achieve these goals
we have built an open-sourced platform, called OCS (Observatory Control
System), which orchestrates distributed hardware systems. We provide an
overview of the SO software and computer infrastructure.
The CCAT-prime project's first light array will be deployed in Mod-Cam, a single-module testbed and first light cryostat, on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) in Chile's high Atacama desert in late 2022. FYST is a six-meter aperture telescope being built on Cerro Chajnantor at an elevation of 5600 meters to observe at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths.1 Mod-Cam will pave the way for Prime-Cam, the primary first generation instrument, which will house up to seven instrument modules to simultaneously observe the sky and study a diverse set of science goals from monitoring protostars to probing distant galaxy clusters and characterizing the cosmic microwave background (CMB). At least one feedhorn-coupled array of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) centered on 280 GHz will be included in Mod-Cam at first light, with additional instrument modules to be deployed along with Prime-Cam in stages. The first 280 GHz detector array was fabricated by the Quantum Sensors Group at NIST in Boulder, CO and includes 3,456 polarization- sensitive MKIDs. Current mechanical designs allow for up to three hexagonal arrays to be placed in each single instrument module. We present details on this first light detector array, including mechanical designs and cold readout plans, as well as introducing Mod-Cam as both a testbed and predecessor to Prime-Cam.
The Simons Observatory (SO) will perform ground-based observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with several small and large aperture telescopes, each outfitted with thousands to tens of thousands of superconducting aluminum manganese (AlMn) transition-edge sensor bolometers (TESs). In-situ characterization of TES responsivities and effective time constants will be required multiple times each observing-day for calibrating time-streams during CMB map-making. Effective time constants are typically estimated in the field by briefly applying small amplitude square-waves on top of the TES DC biases, and fitting exponential decays in the bolometer response. These so-called “bias step" measurements can be rapidly implemented across entire arrays and therefore are attractive because they take up little observing time. However, individual detector complex impedance measurements, while too slow to implement during observations, can provide a fuller picture of the TES model and a better understanding of its temporal response. Here, we present the results of dark TES characterization of many prototype SO bolometers and compare the effective thermal time constants measured via bias steps to those derived from complex impedance data.
The Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope prime (CCAT-p) Observatory is a widefield, 6 meter aperture submillimeter telescope. Prime-Cam will be a powerful, first light camera for CCAT-p with imagers working at several wavelengths and a spectroscopic instrument aimed at intensity mapping during the epoch of reionization.
We present the design of an instrument module in Prime-Cam, operating at 350 microns — the shortest wavelength on the instrument, and the most novel for astronomical surveys, taking full advantage of the atmospheric transparency at the high 5600 meter CCAT-p siting on Cerro Chajnantor. This instrument module will provide unprecedented broadband intensity and polarization measurement capabilities to address pressing astrophysical questions regarding galaxy formation, Big Bang cosmology, and star formation within our own Galaxy. We present the overall optical and mechanical design for the module, and laboratory characterization of the 860-GHz KID array.
CCAT-prime will be a 6-meter aperture telescope operating from sub-mm to mm wavelengths, located at 5600 meters elevation on Cerro Chajnantor in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Its novel crossed-Dragone optical design will deliver a high throughput, wide field of view capable of illuminating much larger arrays of sub-mm and mm detectors than can existing telescopes. We present an overview of the motivation and design of Prime-Cam, a first-light instrument for CCAT-prime. Prime-Cam will house seven instrument modules in a 1.8 meter diameter cryostat, cooled by a dilution refrigerator. The optical elements will consist of silicon lenses, and the instrument modules can be individually optimized for particular science goals. The current design enables both broad- band, dual-polarization measurements and narrow-band, Fabry-Perot spectroscopic imaging using multichroic transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers operating between 190 and 450 GHz. It also includes broadband kinetic induction detectors (KIDs) operating at 860 GHz. This wide range of frequencies will allow excellent characterization and removal of galactic foregrounds, which will enable precision measurements of the sub-mm and mm sky. Prime-Cam will be used to constrain cosmology via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effects, map the intensity of [CII] 158 μm emission from the Epoch of Reionization, measure Cosmic Microwave Background polarization and foregrounds, and characterize the star formation history over a wide range of redshifts. More information about CCAT-prime can be found at www.ccatobservatory.org.
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