Development of Coherent Detector Technologies for Sub-Millimetre Wave Astronomy Observations

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 1-14

3. Multiple Flare-Angle Smooth-Walled Horn

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 15-36

4. SIS Mixer Theory

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 37-55

5. Design of Unilateral Finline SIS Mixer

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 57-75

6. Single-Ended Mixer Tests

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 77-96

7. Single-Chip Integrated Balanced SIS Mixer

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 97-123

8. Design of 700 GHz Single Sideband SIS Mixers

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 125-136

9. The Characteristics of an SIS Junction Near Its Superconducting Gap

   • Book-Kok Tan

   Pages 137-146

10. Generation of Local Oscillator Signal via Photomixing

    • Book-Kok Tan

    Pages 147-156

11. CO\({}_{(3\rightarrow 2)}\) Observations of NGC 2976 and NGC 3351

    • Book-Kok Tan

    Pages 157-184

12. Concluding Remarks

    • Book-Kok Tan

    Pages 185-188

13. Back Matter

    Pages 189-219

    PDF

The thesis describes the development of receiver technologies for sub-millimetre astronomy instruments, focusing on high performance coherent cryogenic detectors operating close to the superconductor gap frequency. The mixer chip which comprises the SIS devices, fed by a unilateral finline and matching planar circuits was fabricated on 15 micron silicon substrate using the recently developed Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology. This offered broadband IF and RF performance, with fully integrated on-chip planar circuits resulting in an easily reproducible mixer chip and a simple mixer block. An important consequence of this design is that it can be extended to the supra-THz region and making the fabrication of multi-pixel heterodyne arrays feasible. The extension of the operation of major telescopes such as ALMA, APEX and the GLT from single pixel to large format arrays is the subject of extensive research at present time since it will allow fast mapping combined with high resolution of the submillimetre sky. The technology described in this thesis makes a major contribution to this effort.

• High-performance Coherent Cryogenic Detectors
• MERAC Prize
• Multi-pixel Heterodyne Arrays
• Prize-winning Tesis
• Sub-millimetre Wave Astronomy
• Sub-millimetre Wave Detectors

• Department of Physics (Astrophysics), University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

  Boon Kok Tan

After completing the Bachelor degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2001, Boon Kok Tan was offered a postgraduate position in Solar Engineering, and was awarded the Master degree in 2002. Following a lecturing career at Tunku Abdul Rahman University in Kuala Lumpur, he was offered a D. Phil position – funded by the prestigious King of Malaysia awards – at Oxford Astrophysics to work on the development of quantum limited coherent detectors for submillimetre astronomy. B. K. Tan obtained the D. Phil degree at Oxford in 2012. He is currently a member the Millimetre Detectors group of Oxford Astrophysics, leading the development of coherent THz detectors for the Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) and collaborates also with the Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
Dr. Tan was awarded the 2014 MERAC Prize by the European Astronomical Society for the Best Doctoral Thesis in the category "Technologies".

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