CCAT Status, Characterization, and Calibration of KID Detector Arrays

ORAL

Abstract

The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) for the CCAT Observatory is a six-meter telescope to be situated at an altitude of 5,600 meters in the Atacama Desert. The CCAT facility is currently under construction, with first light expected in early 2026. Prime-Cam, one of the main instruments being developed for FYST, will utilize over 100,000 kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) and Fabry-Perot interferometers, enabling highly sensitive broadband, polarimetric, and spectroscopic surveys across sub-millimeter to millimeter wavelengths. Coupled with a high-throughput, low-emissivity telescope, Prime-Cam will investigate the Epoch of Reionization, trace galaxy evolution, characterize the cosmic microwave background foreground, and support novel submillimeter time-domain observations. We present a status report on the FYST telescope design and fabrication as well as Prime-Cam instrument development.

*The CCAT project, FYST and Prime-Cam instrument have been supported by generous contributions from the Fred M. Young, Jr. Charitable Trust, Cornell University, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Provinces of Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. The construction of the FYST telescope was supported by the Großgeräte-Programm of the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) under grant INST 216/733-1 FUGG, as well as funding from Universität zu Köln, Universität Bonn and the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik, Garching. The construction of EoR-Spec is supported by NSF grant AST-2009767. The construction of the 350 GHz instrument module for Prime-Cam is supported by NSF grant AST-2117631. The CHAI instrument is supported by DFG grants CRC 956/3 and 1601g, project ID 184018867 as well as funding from Universität zu Köln.

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Presenters

  • Eliza Anna Gazda

    • University of California, Riverside

Authors

  • Eliza Anna Gazda

    • University of California, Riverside