The gradual depletion of the Earth's stratospheric ozone and the regular appearance of deep ozone 'holes' over the polar regions has dramatic ramifications for our planet. NASA's Mission to Planet Earth is attempting to address this and other issues related to environmental change through extensive scientific investigation and global monitoring. As part of this effort, the Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder (EOS-MLS), Joe W. Waters, principal Investigator, was proposed and is currently in development. This instrument will use heterodyne radiometers in the millimeter and submillimeter wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum to globally map radicals, reservoirs and source gases in all of the four major ozone depleting chemical cycles as well as volcanic pollutants and stratospheric and upper tropospheric water. The Submillimeter-Wave Radiometer Development group at JPL along with collaborators at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom and a small number of US laboratories are developing space-borne radiometer components to satisfy the detection requirements for EOS-MLS from 200 to 650 GHz with possible extension up to 2.5 THz (119 micron). This conference paper summarizes the development that has been ongoing, with emphasis on the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave mixers. Detailed design and performance data for a subharmonically-pumped antiparallel-pair planar-diode mixer are presented including computational simulations and measured mixer noise and conversion loss at 215 and 640 GHz. Results from a modest test program comparing the performance at 215 GHz of planar GaAs antiparallel-pair mixer diodes, planar In53Ga47As devices, GaAs planar-doped-barrier diodes and a GaAs millimeter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) mixer are also presented. Finally, current and future development efforts in the areas of submillimeter-wave local oscillations, integrated planar-diode mixers, IF amplifiers and THz radiometers are outlined.


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    Title :

    Heterodyne radiometer development for the earth observing system microwave limb sounder


    Additional title:

    Entwicklung eines Heterodyne-Radiometers für EOS-MLS (Erdbeobachtungssystem- Mikrowellenlimbussender)


    Contributors:
    Siegel, P.H. (author) / Mehdi, I. (author) / Dengler, R.J. (author) / Oswald, J.E. (author) / Pease, A. (author) / Crowe, T.W. (author) / Bishop, W. (author) / Li, Yongjun (author) / Mattauch, R.J. (author)


    Publication date :

    1993


    Size :

    14 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 4 Tabellen, 31 Quellen




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English