Project description
Microwave detection for space missions
Detecting microwave radiation from space and Earth’s atmosphere is crucial for understanding our planet and the universe. However, current technologies require expensive cooling systems to achieve the sensitivity needed for accurate measurements. This makes the technology less practical for small space missions, like CubeSats. The challenge is to find a way to detect these weak signals without using costly cryogenic cooling. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ATESCA project aims to solve this problem. It is developing radiometers that can detect weak microwave signals at room temperature. By using a special process to convert microwave signals into optical light, the radiometers achieve high sensitivity without the need for cooling. The project will demonstrate this technology with CubeSat missions, advancing space-based observation and quantum technology.
Objective
The ATESCA (Ambient Temperature Extremely Sensitive Radiometer for CubeSat Applications) project seeks to advance radiometer technology by achieving highly sensitive microwave detection for space-based applications, such as radio astronomy and Earth observation, without the need for cryogenic cooling of the detector. This project is particularly focused on improving the detection of microwave radiation from the ozone of earths atmosphere and from the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
ATESCA radiometers utilize a nonlinear optical upconversion process to transfer weak microwave signals into the optical domain. This process is intrinsically noiseless, and it has been shown theoretically that a good signal to noise ratio can be achieved even when the whole setup is sitting at room temperature (opposed to direct detection of the microwave radiation).
The nonlinear upconversion process is intrinsically weak. Hence the team plans to employ whispering gallery mode resonators, which support resonances in both optical and microwave domains to significantly improve conversion efficiency. It has been shown theoretically that with the planned implementation, a photon conversion efficiency from the microwave (> 100GHz) to the optical domain of 1% can be achieved. This will enable the proposed radiometer with high sensitivity but would also be interesting for future quantum technology.
This is a planned collaboration between a group in Madrid, Spain (UC3M) and Dunedin, New Zealand (UoO). The researcher will demonstrate the proposed conversion efficiency and hence sensitivity on a benchtop experiment and, afterwards, will implement the system into two actual payloads for CubeSat missions to demonstrate the radiometer.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences astronomy
- natural sciences physical sciences theoretical physics particle physics photons
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
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