ESO Takes Delivery of State-of-the-art Receiver
The world's most sensitive receiver for radio waves with wavelengths around 1.5 millimetres has been delivered to ESO. The receiver - operating in a wavelength range known as Band 5 at ALMA - will allow scientists to trace water vapour in the nearby Universe, and will also provide an unprecedented view of the most distant galaxies. The delivery is an important milestone for the project for ALMA Enhancement of Early Science, funded by the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission. The project has developed new technologies from scratch in just five years. The development of the receivers has been led by the Group for Advanced Receiver Development at Onsala Space Observatory and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and the STFC-Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) Millimetre Wave Technology Group in the UK.