Astronomical submillimetre Fourier transform spectroscopy from the Herschel Space Observatory and the JCMT

Abstract

Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS) is one of the premier ways to collect source information

through emitted radiation. It is so named because the principal measurement technique

involves the analysis of spectra determined from the Fourier transform of a time-domain

interference pattern. Given options in the field, many space- and ground-based instruments

have selected Fourier transform spectrometers for their measurements.

The Herschel Space Observatory, launched on May 14, 2009, has three on-board

instruments. One, SPIRE, comprises a FTS paired with bolometer detector arrays.

SCUBA-2 (Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array) and FTS-2 have recently

been commissioned and will be mounted within the collecting dish of the James

Clerk Maxwell Telescope by Fall, 2010.

The use of FTS in these two observatories will be examined. While work towards

each project is independently useful, the thesis is bound by the commonality between the

two, as each seeks similar answers from vastly different viewpoints.