Very Low-Noise Differential Radiometer at 30 GHz for the PLANCK LFI.

The PLANCK mission of the European Space Agency is devoted to produce sky maps of the cosmic microwave back- ground radiation. The low-frequency instrument is a wide-hand cryogenic microwave radiometer array operating at 30, 44, and 70 GHz. The design, test techniques, and performance of the complete differential radiometer at 30 GHz are presented. This elegant breadboard 30-GHz radiometer is composed of a front-end module (FEM) assembled at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, U.K., and a back-end module assembled at the Universidad de Cantabria, Cantabria, Spain, and Telecomunicació, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. The system noise temperature was excellent, mainly due to the very low noise performance of the FEM amplifiers, which achieved an average noise temperature of 9.4 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]