The Owens Valley Frequency-Agile Interferometer.

Abstract

The solar microwave spectrum encodes significant information on plasma parameters, magnetic field strengths and characteristics of accelerated electrons in solar flares and active regions. The solar interferometer of the Owens Valley Radio Observatory has recently been converted to frequency-agile operation to effectively become a high resolution, interferometric spectrometer. The interferometer uses two moveable, 27 m diameter parabolic antennas equipped with frequency-agile receivers. These receivers are capable of switching their observing frequency in less than 50 ms between any of 86 different frequencies in the range 1 to 18 GHz. All data are absolutely calibrated with respect to cosmic sources. In 1981, observations with one frequency-agile receiver were conducted and high resolution spectra of many flares were obtained. One unexpected aspect of such spectra were narrow-band bursts, which featured sharp high- and low-frequency cutoffs and a relatively narrow bandwidth.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1983
Accession Number
ADA131825

Entities

People

  • G. J. Hurford

Organizations

  • California Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Bandwidth
  • Circular Polarization
  • Computers
  • Data Reduction
  • Frequency Bands
  • High Resolution
  • Interferometry
  • Intermediate Frequencies
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Microwave Frequency
  • Microwave Spectroscopy
  • Observatories
  • Parabolic Antennas
  • Radio Frequency
  • Solar Flares
  • Spectra

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Radar Systems Engineering.
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics