TITLE:
High-Resolution Broadband Millimeter-Wave Astrophysical Spectrometer with Triple Product Acousto-Optical Processor
AUTHORS:
Miguel Chavez Dagostino, Alexandre S. Shcherbakov, Adan Omar Arellanes, Vahram Chavushyan
KEYWORDS:
Astrophysical Instrumentation; Radio-Astronomy; Millimeter-Wave Spectrometer; Space-and-Time Integrating; Acousto-Optical Devices; Optical Processing System
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Vol.3 No.4,
December
4,
2013
ABSTRACT: An advanced conceptual design of a high-bit-rate triple
product acousto-optical processor is presented that can be applied in a number
of astrophysical problems. We briefly describe the Large Millimeter Telescope
as one of the potential observational infrastructures where the acousto-optical
spectrometer can be successfully used. A summary on the study of molecular gas
in relatively old (age > 10 Myr) disks around main sequence stars is
provided. We have identified this as one of the science cases in which the
proposed processor can have a big impact. Then we put
forward triple product acousto-optical processor is able to realize algorithm
of the space-and-time integrating, which is desirable for a wideband spectrum
analysis of radio-wave signals with an improved resolution providing the
resolution power of about 105 - 106.
It includes 1D-acousto-optic cells as the input devices for a 2D-optical data
processing. The importance of this algorithm is based on exploiting the chirp Z-transform technique providing a
2D-Fourier transform of the input signals. The system produces the folded
spectrum, accumulating advantages of both space and time integrating. Its
frequency bandwidth is practically equal to the bandwidth of transducers
inherent in acousto-optical cells. Then, similar processor is able to provide
really high frequency resolution, which is practically equal to the reciprocal
of the CCD-matrix photo-detector integration time. Here, the current state of
developing the triple product acousto-optical processor in frames of the
astrophysical instrumentation is shortly discussed.