LASMA (Large APEX Sub-Millimetre Array)

LASMA is a 7 pixel array of SIS mixers operating in the 345 GHz atmospheric band. It is a PI instrument developed by the Sub-mm technology division at MPIfR and It is installed in the B- Nasmyth cabin of the telescope.

The instrument layout consists of an hexagon of 6 pixels surrounding the central pixel. The separation between pixels on sky is about 40 arcsec and the full-width half-power beam size ranges between 17 and 23 arcsec, depending on the frequency used (between 268 and 375 GHz).

Each pixel consists of a 2SB mixer, which provides an IF bandwidth of 4-8 GHz for each of the 2 sidebands. LO tuning is done automatically and to compensate for the FOV rotation in the Nasmyth cabin, an image derotator is installed as part of the warm optics.

For more details about the instrument, please go to the LASMA pages at the MPIfR web site.