Optics & Electromagnetic Components - Increasing the bandwidth
Set of waveguide phase shifters designed by the CDL and electroformed by the CDL Chemistry Lab.
Receiver optics and electromagnetic (EM) components, in addition to the active components in a receiver, contribute to the sensitivity, beam quality and polarization purity of radio telescopes. Examples of passive components include feed horns, orthomode transducers (OMT), phase shifters etc. All these components that went into the VLA upgrade receivers were not commercially available and were mostly developed and manufactured at the CDL. This is also true for some bands of ALMA and all of the GBT and VLBA receivers. Over the years the development efforts have yielded not only broader bandwidths but also simpler mechanical designs that have led to lower cost of manufacturing. CDL developed EM components have found their place in receivers on various astronomical instruments around the world like the Efflesburg 100-m telescope, the Shanghai 65-m telescope, Torun 32-m telescope to name a few. Electromagnetic simulation tools are routinely used in the development of components and the design is validated with measurements. CDL also has the capabilities to do analysis of reflector antennas fed from either prime focus or secondary focus.
CDL EM Component Development Areas:
• Develop wideband feeds and polarizers for future receivers
• Develop feeds and optics for THZ receivers
Measuring S-parameters of a 67-92 GHz turnstile junction orthomode transducer
Radiation pattern measurement of L-band feed horn designed for JVLA.
11-18 GHz OMT developed and fabricated by the CDL for the GBT galactic center pulsar receiver.
