THUMPER: a 200-um photometer for ground-based astronomy

Walker, R., Ward-Thompson, Derek ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1140-2761, Evans, Rhodri, Leeks, Sarah, Ade, Peter A. R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5127-0401, Griffin, Matthew Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0033-177X, Gear, Walter Kieran ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6789-6196, Kiernan, Brian, Gannaway, Fred C., Rinehard, Stephen A. and Araujo, Henrique 2003. THUMPER: a 200-um photometer for ground-based astronomy. Presented at: Far-IR, Sub-mm & MM Detector Technology Workshop, Monterey, CA, 1-3 April 2002. Published in: Phillips, Thomas G. and Zmuidzinas, Jonas eds. Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy. SPIE Proceedings (4855) Bellingham, WA: SPIE, pp. 563-573. 10.1117/12.459153

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Atmospheric modelling predicts that a window at 200-μm occurs under very dry conditions at high altitude sites. The transmission can reach up to 30 % in the driest conditions, but also exists for as many as 80 nights per year at Mauna Kea. A 200-μm photometer, THUMPER, is currently under construction at Cardiff University for use at the JCMT to exploit this atmospheric window. THUMPER consists of a seven-element hexagonal array of stressed Ge:Ga photoconductors cooled to liquid helium temperature. Initial laboratory testing suggest an NEFD of 20 Jy/√Hz should be possible, under conditions of 0.5-mm pwv. A dichroic splits the beam between SCUBA and THUMPER, allowing simultaneous observations with THUMPER effectively acting as a third SCUBA array. Photometric measurements at 200-μm, in conjunction with SCUBA, will provide valuable information on cold dust sources in the temperature range 10 to 50 K. Since SCUBA fails to sample the peak of the Planck function at these temperatures, it is not possible to differentiate between temperature and density variations across a source using SCUBA data alone. THUMPER will provide these additional data at the same spatial resolution as SCUBA. This will provide an unprecedented combination of wavelength coverage and resolution when imaging sources such as protostars and pre-stellar cores.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy
Additional Information:	Far-IR, Sub-mm & MM Detector Technology Workshop, held 1-3 April 2002 in Monterey, CA.
Publisher:	SPIE
Last Modified:	08 Jan 2024 07:18
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/36564

Citation Data

Cited 1 time in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item