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The Herschel-Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2008

L. Pagani ,
M. Gerin ,
Th. de Graauw ,
N. Whyborn ,
E. Caux ,
T. Phillips ,
J. Stutzki ,
A. Tielens ,
R. Güsten  and
F. Helmich
...Show all authors
Th. de Graauw
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands Leiden Observatory, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
N. Whyborn
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands
E. Caux
Affiliation:
CESR, CNRS and Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
T. Phillips
Affiliation:
Physics Department, CalTech, Pasadena, California, USA
J. Stutzki
Affiliation:
KOSMA, University of Köln, Germany
A. Tielens
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands NASA, Ames Research Centre, Mountain View, California, USA
R. Güsten
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute für Radio Astronomie, Bonn, Germany
F. Helmich
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands
W. Luinge
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands
J. Martin-Pintado
Affiliation:
IEM-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
J. Pearson
Affiliation:
NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, Pasadena, California, USA
P. Planesas
Affiliation:
Obs. de Yebes, Spain
P. Roelfsema
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands
P. Saraceno
Affiliation:
IFSI, via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 00133 Roma, Italie
R. Schieder
Affiliation:
KOSMA, University of Köln, Germany
K. Wildeman
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands
K. Wafelbakker
Affiliation:
SRON, National Institute for Space Research, Groningen, The Netherlands
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Abstract

This paper describes the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) to be launched onboard of ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, by 2008. The instrument is designed to be electronically tunable over a wide and continuous frequency range in the Far Infrared, with velocity resolutions better than 0.1 km s-1 and a high sensitivity. This will allow detailed investigations of a wide variety of astronomical sources, ranging from solar system objects, star formation regions to nuclei of galaxies. The instrument comprises 5 frequency bands covering 480–1150 GHz with SIS mixers and a sixth dual frequency band, for the 1410–1910 GHz range, with Hot Electron Bolometer Mixers (HEB). The Local Oscillator (LO) subsystem consists of a Ka-band synthesizer followed by 14 chains of frequency multipliers, 2 chains for each frequency band. A pair of Auto-Correlators and a pair of Acousto-Optic spectrometers process the two IF signals from the dual-polarization front-ends to provide instantaneous frequency coverage of 4 GHz, with a set of resolutions (140 kHz to 1 MHz), better than <0.1 km s-1. After a successful qualification program, the flight instrument entered the testing phase. We will also report on the first pre-flight test and calibration results together with the expected in-flight performance.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 34: Astronomy in the Submillimeter and Far Infrared Domains with the Herschel Space Observatory , 2009 , pp. 3 - 20
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2009

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