Pulsar Observing Modes

The VLA supports two different types of pulsar observing:

  • Phase-binned imaging mode, in which visibility data are averaged into a number of bins corresponding to different rotational phases of the pulsar.  This allows, for example, separate imaging of on-pulse and off-pulse portions of the data.
  • Phased-array pulsar mode (also called YUPPI mode), in which antenna data streams are coherently summed in order to produce a high-time-resolution, single-pixel data set.  The data can optionally be folded in real-time using a pulse period ephemeris.

Either mode can be configured via the Pulsar tab when creating an instrument configuration in the RCT.  For modes that require one, a Tempo-compatible period ephemeris file should be attached to each source in the SCT.  Additional information about setting up these modes can be found in the pulsar section of the Observing Guide, and in the OSS pulsar section.  If you have questions not addressed in these documents, please contact us through the NRAO Science Helpdesk.

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