Measured Sensitivity of the First Mark II Phased Array Feed on an ASKAP Antenna

TL;DR

This paper reports the measured sensitivity of CSIRO's Mk. II phased array feed on an ASKAP antenna, demonstrating its performance for fast, wide-field astronomical surveys relevant to the SKA project.

Contribution

The paper provides the first measured sensitivity data of the Mk. II PAF on an ASKAP antenna, showcasing its suitability for SKA-related astronomical surveys.

Findings

Minimum system-temperature-over-efficiency of 78 K at 1.23 GHz

System temperature of 95 K or better from 835 MHz to 1.8 GHz

Designed for fast, wide-field surveys with the SKA

Abstract

This paper presents the measured sensitivity of CSIRO's first Mk. II phased array feed (PAF) on an ASKAP antenna. The Mk. II achieves a minimum system-temperature-over-efficiency $T_\mathrm{sys}/\eta$ of 78 K at 1.23 GHz and is 95 K or better from 835 MHz to 1.8 GHz. This PAF was designed for the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope to demonstrate fast astronomical surveys with a wide field of view for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).