A side view of an S-Band receiver without its sunshield. The receiver has a cylindrical upper section that widens towards one side, the shape is reminiscent of a flashlight. This part is the horn antenna. The round horn antenna in front is covered in white radome foil. There are vents on the side and a black vacuum valve at the top at an angle.

The Receiver Group

Developing astronomical receiver systems worldwide.

The receiver laboratory is embedded in the electronics division of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. The main task of the group is to develop receiver systems for radio astronomy. These systems are developed for the in-house 100m radio telescope in Effelsberg as well as for telescopes worldwide, such as the MeerKAT and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in South Africa. From the idea to the finished receiver, the group oversees every step of the development. While doing so, the receiver group draws on many years of in-depth expertise in the development of all components required for their construction and eventual integration.

MPIfR receiver systems operate in the frequency range from 0.5 - 120GHz and are primarily cryogenically cooled. All required components are manufactured at the MPIfR. For these receiver systems that operate at the limits of what is technically feasible, a number of key components are crucial: Antennas, orthomode transducers, low noise amplifiers, microwave signal processors, noise sources, frequency synthesizers and a variety of different electronic circuits.