High-sensitivity receiver systems for use with RF and THz radio telescopes and commercial systems

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The proposed research will build on applicant's strengths by expanding the previously started research and embarking on a new research path. The first research objective, which builds on the past success, is to demonstrate highly sensitive, fully integrated, wideband Square Kilometre Array (SKA) receiver operating at low GHz frequency range. The proposed research will continue applicant's prior work by investigating the implementations of other essential components of the direct-sampling high-gain SKA receiver, such as an anti-aliasing filter, a variable gain amplifier and a calibrated power detector. Once furnished with the additional circuitry, an investigation of adding an optical data transfer system, which will also serve as the ADC by employing a time-based ADC architecture, will also be conducted. This complete receiver will be placed inside a "thick" Vivaldi antenna and will become a very unique system that converts RF broad-band received signal to a digitized optical output. A demonstration of commercial potentials of the highly sensitive receivers are also planned with a development of a high-end GPS receiver equipped with novel low-noise ESD circuitry that is co-designed with the receiver front-end. A proof-of-concept GPS receiver will be designed to validate its characteristics experimentally.A unique noise parameter measurement system for frequency conversion circuits will be developed, as part of the second research objective, to gain a deeper understanding of noise performance of frequency conversion circuits and provide us with design guidelines for their noise minimization.The third research objective is the development of fully integrated cryogenic 460GHz and 830GHz receivers for Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) in Chile. The work will be broken into a number of projects consisting of a design of a fundamental 437.5GHz VCO, 437.5GHz and 830GHz frequency dividers, a phase-locked loop for the 437.5GHz VCO, 460GHz and 415GHz mixers, 22.5GHz LNA and IF-to-based band converter.