Microwave Telescope Design

The future of the study of the structure and evolution of our universe depends on understanding variations in the cosmic microwave background, or CMB; the cooled microwave remnant of the hot big bang that fills the entire universe. Unfortunately, the Milky Way galaxy emits extra microwave radiation that prevents accurate mapping of the CMB. My project is to help design and build a microwave telescope in order to better understand these interfering emissions so we can subtract them out. An antenna in the telescope turns microwaves into electrical signals, which are then amplified. The main amplifier needs to stay very cold in order to reduce thermal noise, so we are building a device called a Dewer; an insulated, vacuum pumped, cryogenically cooled thermos made to thermally isolate the amplifier. Although previous Dewers have been relatively successful, it is still unclear how much heat leakage there is from outside sources, particularly infrared radiation. I am working on making the Dewer design more efficient by using heat transfer equations to calculate how much heat from radiation is leaking into the system, creating a visual simulation of radiative heat transfer using an engineering program called Solidworks, and doing a real-life heat transfer experiment with a small test Dewer in my lab in order to compare the data with my theoretical predictions. Although no significant data has been gathered so far due to technical difficulties, my future research will hopefully help make future microwave telescope Dewer design more efficient.