18-32.3 GHz Cryogenic Front-End for 40 m Yebes Radio Telescope

The 40-meter radio telescope, as a single-dish instrument, is primarily dedicated to the investigation of the galactic interstellar medium through rotational molecular spectroscopy observations [1]. On the other hand, the 40-meter RT also operates as a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) instrument [2]. These findings, and the possibility to study the spectrum of different astrophysical media with unprecedented sensitivity [3], are built upon the utilization of an advanced K-Q-W receivers’ configuration, which was installed in 2019. The proposed configuration offered several notable enhancements, including a nearly 40% instantaneous bandwidth in the Q band, the addition of a new W band receiver, an upgraded optical system enabling simultaneous observations and the incorporation of a calibration load featuring a nearly black-body emitter at hot and cold temperatures [3] [4].