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Terahertz Radiometer for Outer Planet and Moon Atmospheres (TROPA)We are developing a prototype instrument platform to demonstrate the feasibility of a wideband spectrometer for planetary applications under a three-year NASA research program. This development focuses on three specific areas needing advancement. First, the terahertz portion consists of an optical bench with dual heterodyne Schottky-mixer based receivers, one for each band. The beams entering the horns of the two receivers are de-multiplexed from the input beam by a polarizing beam splitter. The blocks containing the 560 and 1200 GHz mixer are more highly integrated than previous space instruments to reduce mass and volume. The receivers take a fundamental pump frequency near 30 GHz and multiply up to the submillimeter range. Second, a rapid-tuning, low-phase noise, and low-power 33 GHz range LO synthesizer is being prototyped. The low phase noise requirement is needed because of the factor of 36 multiplication to reach 1200 GHz, giving a requirement that the integrated phase noise from 100 kHz up be less than 0.6 degrees. The synthesizer will require about 6 watts. Finally, we are developing an advanced polyphase filter back-end spectrum analyzer with a bandwidth of 750 MHz, and power consumption of about 3 Watts and 4096 channels. This system is based on a simple three-chip architecture, having a commercial 1.5 GS/s analog-to-digital converter, an ASIC to do the filtering and an advanced FPGA for data processing and control.
Document ID
20120018101
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Schlecht, E. T.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Jamnejad, V.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Jarnot, R. F.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Raffanti, R.
(Techne Instruments Oakland, CA, United States)
Lin, R.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
April 2, 2012
Subject Category
Electronics And Electrical Engineering
Meeting Information
Meeting: 23rd International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology
Location: Tokyo
Country: Japan
Start Date: April 2, 2012
End Date: April 4, 2012
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
spectrometer
Terahertz
submillimeter

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