Characterization of a dense aperture array for radio astronomy

S. A. Torchinsky (1) , A. O. H. Olofsson (2) , B. Censier (1) , A. Karastergiou (3) , M. Serylak (4, 5) , P. Picard (1) , P. Renaud (1) , C. Taffoureau (1)

1 USN - Unité Scientifique de la Station de Nançay
2 OSO - Onsala Space Observatory
3 Oxford Astrophysics
4 SKA South Africa
5 Department of Physics and Astronomy [South Africa]

EMBRACE@Nancay is a prototype instrument consisting of an array of 4608 densely packed antenna elements creating a fully sampled, unblocked aperture. This technology is proposed for the Square Kilometre Array and has the potential of providing an extremely large field of view making it the ideal survey instrument. We describe the system,calibration procedures, and results from the prototype.

Mots clés: Instrumentation: interferometers; Square Kilometre Array; Techniques: radio astronomy

Domaines: Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]

S. A. Torchinsky, A. O. H. Olofsson, B. Censier, A. Karastergiou, M. Serylak, et al.. Characterization of a dense aperture array for radio astronomy. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2016, 589, pp.A77. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201526706⟩. ⟨insu-01369638⟩