Design, development, and verification of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument 70 GHz Front-End and Back-End Modules
Abstract
70 GHz radiometer front-end and back-end modules for the Low Frequency Instrument of the European Space Agencys Planck Mission were built and tested. The operating principles and the design details of the mechanical structures are described along with the key InP MMIC low noise amplifiers and phase switches of the units. The units were tested in specially designed cryogenic vacuum chambers capable of producing the operating conditions required for Planck radiometers, specifically, a physical temperature of 20 K for the front-end modules, 300 K for the back-end modules and 4 K for the reference signal sources. Test results of the low noise amplifiers and phase switches, the front and back-end modules, and the combined results of both modules are discussed. At 70 GHz frequency, the system noise temperature of the front and back end is 28 K; the effective bandwidth 16 GHz, and the 1/f spectrum knee frequency is 38 mHz. The test results indicate state-of-the-art performance at 70 GHz frequency and fulfil the Planck performance requirements.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1001.4661,
title = {Design, development, and verification of the Planck Low Frequency Instrument 70 GHz Front-End and Back-End Modules},
author = {J. Varis and N. J. Hughes and M. Laaninen and V. -H. Kilpia and P. Jukkala and J. Tuovinen and S. Ovaska and P. Sjoman and P. Kangaslahti and T. Gaier and R. Hoyland and P. Meinhold and A. Mennella and M. Bersanelli and R. C. Butler and F. Cuttaia and E. Franceschi and R. Leonardi and P. Leutenegger and M. Malaspina and N. Mandolesi and M. Miccolis and T. Poutanen and H. Kurki-Suonio and M. Sandri and L. Stringhetti and L. Terenzi and M. Tomasi and L. Valenziano},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1001.4661},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
16 pages, 15 figures. This paper is part of of the prelaunch status Planck LFI papers published on JINST: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.proc5/jinst