RRI-GBT Multi-Band Receiver: Motivation, Design & Development

TL;DR

This paper presents the design and development of a multi-band receiver system for the Green Bank Telescope, enabling simultaneous high-resolution observations across ten frequency bands for advanced pulsar studies.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel multi-band receiver system optimized for pulsar tomography, capable of simultaneous observations in ten RFI-free spectral bands with high time resolution.

Findings

Successful preliminary tests with the Green Bank Telescope

System demonstrates effective simultaneous multi-band data acquisition

Potential for enhanced pulsar emission region studies

Abstract

We report the design and development of a self-contained multi-band receiver (MBR) system, intended for use with a single large aperture to facilitate sensitive & high time-resolution observations simultaneously in 10 discrete frequency bands sampling a wide spectral span (100-1500 MHz) in a nearly log-periodic fashion. The development of this system was primarily motivated by need for tomographic studies of pulsar polar emission regions. Although the system design is optimized for the primary goal, it is also suited for several other interesting astronomical investigations. The system consists of a dual-polarization multi-band feed (with discrete responses corresponding to the 10 bands pre-selected as relatively RFI-free), a common wide-band RF front-end, and independent back-end receiver chains for the 10 individual sub-bands. The raw voltage time-sequences corresponding to 16 MHz bandwidth each for the two linear polarization channels and the 10 bands, are recorded at the Nyquist rate simultaneously. We present the preliminary results from the tests and pulsar observations carried out with the Green Bank Telescope using this receiver. The system performance implied by these results, and possible improvements are also briefly discussed.