Abstract

Several groups around the world, including our group at Universidad de Chile, have been developing the technology necessary for realizing the Band 1 of ALMA (31 – 45 GHz). All those efforts have been lately united in a single coordinated international consortium. Given the new scientific challenges, a common goal that has emerged within the consortium is to determine the feasibility of extending the frequency range towards 50 GHz. During our initial development phase we have already designed several key components covering the original Band-1 frequency range that are currently being integrated in a first prototype receiver. To complement those initial efforts and help in the development plan of the consortium, here we propose redesigning and prototyping key components (horn, focusing system, polarization splitter and amplifiers) to cover the entire Q band (33 – 50 GHz) while keeping reasonable performance down to 31 GHz. This project will not only represent a significant contribution for future implementation of Band-1 receivers but it will also benefit ALMA directly, by training qualified personnel, and providing for that appropriate technical facilities and top level projects. Therefore Chilean community will be much better prepared to offer specialized services that ALMA will need during its normal operation.