Submillimeter Receiver Lab

One of the best ways to observe newborn stars and their environment is to use light in the submillimeter range of wavelengths. The Submillimeter Receiver Lab at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian develops new and better receivers for submillimeter light, in support of next-generation telescopes, as well as supporting and upgrading receivers in existing observatories such as the Submillimeter Array (SMA).

Visit the Submillimeter Receiver Lab website

Building the Next Generation of Detectors

Submillimeter waves sit at the boundary between infrared and radio wavelengths and are emitted by the cold atoms and molecules that make up the dense interstellar clouds where stars form. For decades, the Submillimeter Receiver Lab has been at the forefront of submillimeter instrumentation.

We led the complete design, construction, testing, and operation of the receivers for the Submillimeter Array (SMA), which achieved first light in 2003. We later developed key receiver systems for the Greenland Telescope. Through the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, our receivers played a central role in producing the first images of the supermassive black holes of M87 and Sagittarius A* in the center of our Milky Way. Across all of this work, our expertise has focused on SIS detectors, cryogenic receiver architecture, and low-noise, wide-bandwidth instrumentation.

Today, the lab is building the next generation of submillimeter instrumentation. We are developing advanced receivers for the next-generation EHT (ngEHT) and the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX). We are also leading the full upgrade of the SMA to both the wideband SMA (wSMA) and the Solar SMA, covering everything from design and fabrication to integration, installation, and testing.

We also collaborate closely with the Harvard Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) Group, the Harvard Axion Detection Group, and observatories around the world pursuing receiver upgrades to extend scientific capability. Our mission is straightforward: to create high-performance receivers that expand the reach of submillimeter astronomy and enable the discoveries ahead.