A VLBI receiving system for the South Pole Telescope

Understand

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment that aims to observe supermassive black holes with an angular resolution that is comparable to the event horizon scale.

• The South Pole occupies an important position in the array, greatly increasing its north-south extent and therefore its resolution.
• The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10-meter diameter, millimeter-wavelength telescope equipped for bolometric observations of the cosmic microwave background.
• To enable VLBI observations with the SPT we have constructed a coherent signal chain suitable for the South Pole environment.