Aims. In March 2008, the APEX facility instrument was installed on the telescope at the site of Lliano Chajnantor in northern Chile. The main objective of the paper is to introduce the new instrument to the radio astronomical community. It describes the hardware configuration and presents some initial results from the on-sky commissioning. Methods. The heterodyne instrument covers frequencies between 211 GHz and 1390 GHz divided into four bands. The first three bands are sideband-separating mixers operating in a single sideband mode and based on superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) tunnel junctions. The fourth band is a hot-electron bolometer, waveguide balanced mixer. All bands are integrated in a closedcycle temperature-stabilized cryostat and are cooled to 4 K. Results. We present results from noise temperature, sideband separation ratios, beam, and stability measurements performed on the telescope as a part of the receiver technical commissioning. Examples of broad extragalactic lines are also included.

Aims. This paper describes the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) that was launched onboard ESA's Herschel Space Observatory in May 2009. Methods. The instrument is a set of 7 heterodyne receivers that are electronically tuneable, covering 480−1250 GHz with SIS mixers and the 1410−1910 GHz range with hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers. The local oscillator (LO) subsystem comprises a Ka-band synthesizer followed by 14 chains of frequency multipliers and 2 chains for each frequency band. A pair of auto-correlators and a pair of acousto-optical spectrometers process the two IF signals from the dual-polarization, single-pixel front-ends to provide instantaneous frequency coverage of 2 × 4 GHz, with a set of resolutions (125 kHz to 1 MHz) that are better than 0.1 km s −1 . Results. After a successful qualification and a pre-launch TB/TV test program, the flight instrument is now in-orbit and completed successfully the commissioning and performance verification phase. The in-orbit performance of the receivers matches the pre-launch sensitivities. We also report on the in-orbit performance of the receivers and some first results of HIFI's operations.

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Aims. The new APEX telescope, located on Llano Chajnantor in Northern Chile, will have high resolution spectroscopic instruments covering the wavelength region from 0.20 to 1.30 mm (210−1500 GHz). Methods. In May 2005, the first facility receiver for the band 0.79−1.07 mm (279−381 GHz) was installed together with backends providing down to 60 kHz spectral resolution. This instrument that operates in double sideband mode uses superconducting tunnel junctions (SIS) as mixing elements operating at 4 K to achieve close to quantum-limited noise performances. The receiver is cooled by a closed-cycle cooling machine that allows continuous operation. The receiver design minimizes moving parts and is fully operated by remote to improve its reliability and the ease of use. Results. The double sideband (DSB) receiver temperatures are in the range 50−70 K, which typically results in a DSB system noise temperature of about 100 K in excellent weather conditions and between 100−200 K in good weather conditions.

Context. We describe the new SEPIA (Swedish-ESO PI Instrument for APEX) receiver, which was designed and built by GARD OSO in collaboration with ESO. It was installed and commissioned at the APEX telescope during 2015 with an ALMA Band 5 receiver channel and updated with a new frequency channel (ALMA Band 9) in February 2016. Aims. This manuscript provides a reference for observers who use the SEPIA receiver in terms of the hardware description, optics and performance as well as the commissioning results. Methods. Out of three available receiver cartridge positions in SEPIA, the two current frequency channels, corresponding to ALMA Band 5, the RF band 158-211 GHz, and Band 9, the RF band 600-722 GHz, provide state-of-the-art dual polarization receivers. The Band 5 frequency channel uses 2SB SIS mixers with an average SSB noise temperature around 45 K with IF (intermediate frequency) band 4-8 GHz for each sideband providing total 4 × 4 GHz IF band. The Band 9 frequency channel uses DSB SIS mixers with a noise temperature of 75-125 K with IF band 4-12 GHz for each polarization.Results. Both current SEPIA receiver channels are available to all APEX observers.