Sofia Terahertz Array Receiver (STAR)

Project STAR is a 16-element, heterodyne array receiver for use on SOFIA. The array will utilize hot-electron bolometers in an efficient, low-cost waveguide mount to achieve low noise performance between and 2400 GHz. Due to the prevailing physical conditions in the interstellar medium, this frequency range is one of the richest in the FIR portion of the spectrum. An array designed for this wavelength range will make excellent use of the telescope and the available atmospheric transmission, and will provide a new perspective on stellar, chemical, and galaxy evolution in the present as well as past epochs. A few of the most important molecular and atomic species which the instrument will sample are CII, OI, CO, OH, NII, and CH. The proposed system uses the most sensitive detectors available in an efficient optical system. The local oscillator will be a compact CO pumped far-infrared laser currently under development for SOFIA. The backend spectrometer will be an array acousto-optic spectrometer (aAOS). The spectrometer utilizes proven hardware and technologies to provide broadband performance (  GHz per AOS channel) and high spectral resolution (1 MHz) with the maximum sensitivity and minimum complexity and cost. The proposed instrument will be the fastest and most sensitive heterodyne receiver ever to operate in the 1.5 - 2.4 THz band.

• Scientific Motivation
  • The Interstellar Medium
  • Protostellar Collapse and Disk Processes
  • Circumstellar Envelopes and Planetary Nebulae
• Instrument Description
  • Design Philosophy
  • Block Diagram
  • Hot-Electron Bolometers
  • Focal Plane Array Concept
• About this document ...