The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager^★

Abstract

The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager is a pair of interferometer arrays operating with six frequency channels spanning 13.9–18.2 GHz, for observations on angular scales of 30 arcsec–10 arcmin and for declinations greater than −15°; the Small Array has a sensitivity of 30 mJy s−1/2 and the Large Array has a sensitivity of 3 mJy s−1/2. The telescope is aimed principally at Sunyaev–Zel'dovich imaging of clusters of galaxies. We discuss the design of the telescope and describe and explain its electronic and mechanical systems.