The mm/sub-mm spectral region is one of the last in the electromagnetic spectrum to benefit from fundamental developments in technology that lead to many-pixel, efficient detection of radiation. Transition Edge Sensors (TES) are small bolometers operating near the superconducting temperature boundary that can be constructed in array formats to efficiently detect sub-mm and mm-wave emission over an extended image. One of the primary scientific applications of these arrays is the detection of very young and obscured galaxies at high redshift that emit most of their light in the infrared and sub-mm spectral regions and provide direct information on early-epoch star formation and the formation and evolution of central black holes.
To attack these scientific problems, Dr. Johannes Staguhn of Johns Hopkins intends to build on the success of a previous NSF-supported TES-based mm-wave instrument called GIZMO with a larger format, lower-noise, two-band camera dubbed GIZMO-2. When used with the largest mm-wave telescope in the world - the 30-m IRAM telescope - the 1280-pixel array for the 1.2 mm wavelength will take advantage of nearly the entire usable field of view (5 x 4 arcminutes) with pixels somewhat smaller than the diffraction limit of ~9 arcseconds, and be capable of more efficiently mapping the sky at mm-wavelengths than any other camera available today. At the same time, measurements made with the 2 mm array will provide 2-color information that can be used to obtain crude source redshifts.
Cost-sharing for the development of GIZMO-2 is occurring through the participation of several agencies. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center is providing the TES arrays, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology is supplying the state-of-the-art Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) multiplexed readouts. NSF is responsible for the cryogenic apparatus, optics, integration, etc, using funding provided by the Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.
