Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

The muscat readout electronics backend: design and pre-deployment performance

Rowe, S., Tapia, M., Barry, Peter, Karkare, K. S., Papageorgiou, A., Ade, P. A. R., Brien, T. L. R., Castillo-Domínguez, E., Ferrusca, D., Gómez-Rivera, V., Hargrave, P., Hernández-Rebollar, J. L., Hornsby, A., Jáuregui-García, J. M., Mauskopf, P., Murias, D., Pascale, E., Pérez, A., Smith, M. W. L., Tucker, C., Velázquez, M., Ventura, S., Hughes, D. H. and Doyle, S. 2022. The muscat readout electronics backend: design and pre-deployment performance. Journal of Low Temperature Physics 10.1007/s10909-022-02868-9

[thumbnail of s10909-022-02868-9-1.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (1MB) | Preview
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License Start date: 2 December 2022

Abstract

MUSCAT is a new large-format 1.1 mm continuum camera for local and extra-galactic astronomy currently being installed at the 50 m Large Millimetre Telescope Alfonso Serrano, LMT. The focal plane is populated with 1458 feedhorn coupled Aluminium LEKIDs, cooled to 130 mk, and read out with 6 frequency division multiplexed RF readout chains, each with a 500 MHz bandwidth. The nominal mux ratio is ∼ 250 resonators per chain with an average spacing of 2 MHz between resonators. In each RF chain, the multiplexed waveform generation/decomposition is performed with the BLAST-TNG firmware on a ROACH2 FPGA board with a MUSIC DAC/ADC. The quadrature modulated IF signals are mixed to and from the LEKID readout band on a custom card that houses IQ mixers, a programmable synthesizer, and additional programmable input and output gain control and filtering. Within the cryostat, the RF signals are attenuated prior to reaching the focal plane array and then amplified at 4K. A novel software system controls all the programmable hardware and handles instructions from the LMT instrument control system to record and store observation data, as well as performing automated resonator retuning and providing results of quick look analysis to the telescope operators. In this paper, we present the detailed design and in-lab performance of the cryogenic and room temperature electronics, and the software control system.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Published Online
Status: Published
Schools: Physics and Astronomy
Publisher: Springer
ISSN: 0022-2291
Funders: STFC
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 22 March 2023
Date of Acceptance: 30 August 2022
Last Modified: 12 Jun 2023 19:29
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/155680

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics