Photograph of the 6cm feed Photograph of 13cm feed
As the radiowaves are bounced off the subreflector, they enter the aperture appropriate for their wave length. They travel down the feed horn to the amplifier/mixer. Above are the feed horns for the 6cm wavelength and 13cm wavelength. All of the feed horns are located here in the vertex room.
Photograph of the cryogenics unit
This cryogenics unit, or refrigerator, uses helium gas to cool the front end (receiver) to about 15 degrees Kelvin (-258C). Electrons in the amplifier (a part of the receiver) vibrate, causing "noise". Cooling them as closely as possible to absolute zero causes them to slow down so that the only electrons moving through the amplifier are those of the true signal.

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Modified on Friday, 26-Sep-2008 12:15:34 MDT