High-performance wobbling subreflector for the Millimetre and Infrared Testa Grigia Observatory 2.6-m telescope

Appl Opt. 1996 May 1;35(13):2246-52. doi: 10.1364/AO.35.002246.

Abstract

The Millimetre and Infrared Testa Grigia Observatory 2.6-m Cassegrain telescope has been designed to allow high-sensitivity observations in the millimeter spectral range. For this purpose, in order to reduce unwanted contributions from local foregrounds, we adopted a sky-chopping technique, by wobbling the telescope subreflector. We describe the design and performance of the wobbling system, which can endure external forced two and three fields square-wave modulation and includes features such as high frequency, high amplitude, high duty cycle, low microphonics, and high stability.