世界で初めてのミリ波干渉計

The First mm-wave Interferometer for Astronomy in the world 1960-70s

  

Technology of mm-wave interferometry plays the essential role in the 
high-resolution observations such as with ALMA, EHT, for the advantages as: 

1. High-resolution imaging because of the shorter wavelength than microwaves,
2. Transparent to the radio-opaque circumstances near the ccentral objects
   such as the black-hole, dust torus, solar chronosphere.
3. Wealth of interstellar molecular lines.

The millimeter wave interferometry was proposed and designed in the 
1960s by Kin-aki Kawabata and Yoshiaki Sofue, who built the 
world's first millimeter wave interferometer for astronomy at
the Department of Physics, Nagoya University.

Based on mm-wave experiments at 70 and 35 GHz with single dish telescopes, 
the construction of 8-element 35 GHz interferometer with a maximum 
baseline of 16 m for solar observations was accomplished in 1970-1971,
resulting in several papers on radio bursts and the chronosphere physics
of the quiet Sun as below. The Nagoya mm-wave interferometer was 
further developed to have 16 elements (32 m), joined by H Ogawa, and 
was operated till 1980's.

1972 Kawabata and Sofue PASJ: 35GHz Interferometer 
1973 Kawabata, Sofue, et al.  Sol.Phys: 35GHz Interferometer
1974 Kawabata et al PASJ: 35GHz Interferometer
1974 Ogawa et al PASJ: 35GHz Interferometer