BSMILES—A Balloon-Borne Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder for Stratospheric Measurements

Irimajiri, Yoshihisa; Manabe, Tetsuya; Ochiai, Satoshi; Masuko, Harunobu; Yamagami, T.; Saito, Yoshitaka; Izutsu, Naoki; Kawasaki, T.; Namiki, Michiyoshi; Murata, Isao

doi:10.1109/lgrs.2005.856712

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Our goal was to realize a practical heterodyne receiver for the detection of the 3.5 THz OH line. Due to the limited availability of dry cryocoolers and electrical power for both space-based 29 and airborne missions, 4,30 we foresee several technical challenges with regard to the use of terahertz QCLs as LOs. First, the input dc power has to be far below 100 mW if it is operated around 5-10 K. An alternative is to have a terahertz QCL operated at a relatively high temperature, e.g., 70 K or higher, where the required input power is moderately reduced to as much as ϳ1 W. 29 Lower dc input power 31 and higher operating temperature 32 terahertz QCLs have been demonstrated in the literature.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3.4 THz heterodyne receiver using a hot electron bolometer and a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser

Khosropanah

Zhang

Hovenier

et al. 2008

Journal of Applied Physics

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We report a heterodyne receiver using a superconducting NbN hot electron bolometer ͑HEB͒ integrated with a tight winding spiral antenna as mixer and a distributed feedback ͑DFB͒ terahertz quantum cascade laser ͑QCL͒ operating at 3.42 THz as local oscillator. The aim is to demonstrate the readiness of both devices for the detection of OH lines at 3.5 THz in a real instrument. We show that the improved single-spot beam of the terahertz QCL can easily pump the HEB mixer. We measured a double sideband receiver noise temperature of 2100 K at the optimum local oscillator power of 290 nW. This noise temperature can be further reduced to 1100 K if we correct the loss due to the use of an uncoated lens, and the losses of the window and the air. Therefore, the combination of a HEB and such a DFB QCL can in principle be used to detect an OH line at 3.5 THz. However, a high input power of several watts, which is needed to operate the QCL in a liquid-helium cryostat, poses a big challenge to the receiver stability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3.4 THz heterodyne receiver using a hot electron bolometer and a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser

Khosropanah

Zhang

Hovenier

et al. 2008

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…HCl profiles have, for instance, been measured in the early 90s by the ALIAS aircraft instrument and the balloon instruments BLISS and MkIV (Webster et al, 1994) and later by the balloon instruments SPIRALE (Moreau et al, 2005) and B-SMILES (Irimajiri et al, 2006). The latter was a pre-cursor of the SMILES space instrument and has observed ClO as well.…”

Section: A De Lange Et Al: Hcl and Clo Profiles From Telis Spectramentioning

confidence: 99%

HCl and ClO in activated Arctic air; first retrieved vertical profiles from TELIS submillimetre limb spectra

et al. 2012

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Abstract. The first profile retrieval results of the Terahertz and submillimeter Limb Sounder (TELIS) balloon instrument are presented. The spectra are recorded during a 13-h balloon flight on 24 January 2010 from Kiruna, Sweden. The TELIS instrument was mounted on the MIPAS-B2 gondola and shared this platform with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) and the miniDifferential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (mini-DOAS) instruments. The flight took place within the Arctic vortex at an altitude of ≈34 km in chlorine activated air, and both active (ClO) and inactive chlorine (HCl) were measured over an altitude range of respectively ≈16-32 km and ≈10-32 km. In this altitude range, the increase of ClO concentration levels during sunrise has been recorded with a temporal resolution of one minute. During the daytime equilibrium, a maximum ClO level of 2.1 ± 0.3 ppbv has been observed at an altitude of 23.5 km. This equilibrium profile is validated against the ClO profile by the satellite instrument Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard EOS Aura. HCl profiles have been determined from two different isotopes -H 35 Cl and H 37 Cl -and are also validated against MLS. The precision of all profiles is well below 0.01 ppbv and the overall accuracy is therefore governed by systematic effects. The total uncertainty of these effects is estimated to be maximal 0.3 ppbv for ClO around its peak value at 23.5 km during the daytime equilibrium, and for HCl it ranges from 0.05 to 0.4 ppbv, depending on altitude. In both cases the main uncertainty stems from a largely unknown non-linear response in the detector.

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“…Likewise, the Limb Profile Monitor of the Atmosphere (LPMA) [26] operated by the Laboratoire de Physique Moleculaire et Applications at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has been used to validate satellite instruments onboard the Envisat. Additionally, balloon-borne sensors have served as precursors to future spaceborne instruments, e.g., BSMILES [27], and BMLS [28], etc. Last but not least, balloon-borne instrument prototypes can serve as test beds for new solutions to potential technical difficulties in the design of new instruments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Assessment of Balloon-Borne Trace Gas Sounding with the Terahertz Channel of TELIS

Schreier

Wetzel

et al. 2018

Remote Sensing

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Short-term variations in the atmospheric environment over polar regions are attracting increasing attention with respect to the reliable analysis of ozone loss. Balloon-borne remote sensing instruments with good vertical resolution and flexible sampling density can act as a prototype to overcome the potential technical challenges in the design of new spaceborne atmospheric sensors and represent a valuable tool for validating spaceborne observations. A multi-channel cryogenic heterodyne spectrometer known as the TErahertz and submillimeter LImb Sounder (TELIS) has been developed. It allows limb sounding of the upper troposphere and stratosphere (10-40 km) within the far infrared (FIR) and submillimeter spectral regimes. This paper describes and assesses the performance of the profile retrieval scheme for TELIS with a focus on the ozone (O 3 ), hydrogen chloride (HCl), carbon monoxide (CO), and hydroxyl radical (OH) measured during three northern polar campaigns in 2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively. The corresponding inversion diagnostics reveal that some forward/instrument model parameters play important roles in the total retrieval error. The accuracy of the radiometric calibration and the spectroscopic knowledge has a significant impact on retrieval at higher altitudes, whereas the pointing accuracy dominates the total error at lower altitudes. The TELIS retrievals achieve a vertical resolution of ∼ 2-3 km through most of the stratosphere below the balloon height. Dominant water vapor (H 2 O) contamination and low abundances of the target species reduce the retrieval sensitivity at the lowermost altitudes measured by TELIS. An extensive comparison shows that the TELIS profiles are consistent with profiles obtained by other limb sounders. The comparison appears to be very promising, except for discrepancies in the upper troposphere due to numerical regularization. This study not only consolidates the validity of balloon-borne TELIS FIR measurements, but also demonstrates the scientific relevance and technical feasibility of terahertz limb sounding of the stratosphere.

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BSMILES—A Balloon-Borne Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder for Stratospheric Measurements

Cited by 17 publications

References 17 publications

3.4 THz heterodyne receiver using a hot electron bolometer and a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser

3.4 THz heterodyne receiver using a hot electron bolometer and a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser

HCl and ClO in activated Arctic air; first retrieved vertical profiles from TELIS submillimetre limb spectra

Performance Assessment of Balloon-Borne Trace Gas Sounding with the Terahertz Channel of TELIS

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