Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) Award: Development of Superconducting Detectors for Use in Submillimeter Spectroscopy

这项总统青年研究者奖的研究将有三个主要重点。首先是改进亚毫米接收器组件的发展。首席研究员对利用超导薄膜和隧道结技术开发新型亚毫米电路特别感兴趣。SIS混频器、二维成像阵列、亚毫米约瑟夫森振荡器、SQUID和参数放大器、低损耗传输线、滤波器耦合器等无源元件，甚至集成接收器等设备都可以使用该技术。第二个推动力是建造实用的天文接收系统，用于加州理工学院亚毫米天文台和南极望远镜，以及机载望远镜，最终用于太空任务。这项工作将与第一个工作并行进行，必要时使用现有组件，但在开发新组件时利用它们。第三个推动力是利用这些接收器来解决天体物理问题。目前主要研究方向是分子云的结构和物理、光解区、分子外流和恒星形成区。亚毫米光谱学是研究这些地区通常发现的温暖和稠密气体的最佳方法。

Research under this Presidential Young Investigator Award will have three main thrusts. The first is the development of improved submillimeter receiver components. The Principal Investigator is particularly interested in expoiting superconducting thin film and tunnel junction technology to develop novel submillimeter circuits. Devices such as SIS mixers, 2-dimensional imaging arrays, submillimeter Josephson oscillators, SQUID and parametric amplifiers, low-loss transmission lines, passive components such as filters couplers, and perhaps even integrated receivers are all feasible with this technology. The second thrust is the construction of practical receiver systems for astronomical use at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and the Antarctic Telescope and also on airborne telescopes, and eventually for space missions. This effort will be pursued in parallel with the first, using existing components when necessary but taking advantage of new components as they are developed. The third thrust is the employment of these receivers to attack astrophysical problems. Principal interests at present are the structure and physics of molecular clouds, photodissociation regions, molecular outflows, and star-forming regions. Submillimeter spectroscopy is the optimal method for studying the warm and dencse gas typically found in these regions.