Cryogenic Design and Analysis of Vivaldi Array Receiver

A microwave receiver is a signal-receiving device positioned at the focal point of a radio telescope. The phased array receiver, as a multi-beam technology that places a small antenna array at the focal plane of a reflector and achieves continuous multi-beam coverage through a beamforming network, represents a current research hotspot in the field of receiver technology. Similarly, the sensitivity of a phased array receiver can be enhanced by cryogenically cooling its low-noise amplifiers or even the front-end antenna array. This study addresses the cryogenic cooling requirements of phased array receivers. Based on an existing broadband Vivaldi antenna array in our laboratory, we designed a dewar system adopting a full-array integrated cooling approach. Through thermal load analysis of the internal cryogenic structure and comparison with actual cooling temperatures measured from the dewar prototype, we validated the current structural design while identifying areas for improvement. This work provides valuable insights for future integrated cooling and sensitivity optimization of phased array receivers equipped with cryogenic low-noise amplifiers.