CCAT: The Prime-Cam Instrument for the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope -- Overview and Status

Eve M. Vavagiakis; Yuhan Wang; Lawrence T. Lin; Manuel Aravena; Jason E. Austermann; Frank Bertoldi; James Burgoyne; Victoria Butler; Scott Chapman; Steve K. Choi; Dongwoo Chung; Abigail Crites; Ankur Dev; Cody J. Duell; Michel Fich; Laura Fissel; Rodrigo G. Freundt; Eliza Gazda; Anthony I. Huber; Doug Johnstone; Ben Keller; Paul Malachuk; Alicia Middleton; Jenna Moore; Michael D. Niemack; Thomas Nikola; Yoko Okada; Darshan A. Patel; Tilak M. Patel; Dominik A. Riechers; Douglas Scott; Gordon J. Stacey; Benjamin J. Vaughan; Samantha Walker; Ruixuan; Xie

doi:10.1117/12.3105297

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2608.25111

CCAT: The Prime-Cam Instrument for the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope -- Overview and Status

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Prime-Cam is a first-generation science instrument for the CCAT Observatory's six-meter aperture Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), under construction at an elevation of 5600 m on Cerro Chajnantor in Chile's Atacama Desert. Prime-Cam will deliver over ten times greater mapping speed at submillimeter wavelengths than current facilities for unprecedented broadband and spectroscopic measurements in windows between 1.4 -- 0.3 mm (220 -- 850 GHz). When fully populated, Prime-Cam will field over 100,000 kinetic inductance detectors across seven independently optimized instrument modules. With Prime-Cam, the CCAT Collaboration will address a suite of science goals, from Big Bang cosmology, to galaxy evolution and star formation over cosmic time. Prime-Cam is scheduled for integration in FYST in late 2026, followed by a year of early science observations with the 280 and 350 GHz instrument modules. We discuss the design and in-lab testing of the 1.8-m diameter Prime-Cam receiver and 280 GHz instrument module, and give an update on deployment status and early science plans.

Explore related subjects

astro-ph.IM

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Eve M. Vavagiakis, Yuhan Wang, Lawrence T. Lin, Manuel Aravena, Jason E. Austermann, Frank Bertoldi, James Burgoyne, Victoria Butler, Scott Chapman, Steve K. Choi, Dongwoo Chung, Abigail Crites, Ankur Dev, Cody J. Duell, Michel Fich, Laura Fissel, Rodrigo G. Freundt, Eliza Gazda, Anthony I. Huber, Doug Johnstone, Ben Keller, Paul Malachuk, Alicia Middleton, Jenna Moore, Michael D. Niemack, Thomas Nikola, Yoko Okada, Darshan A. Patel, Tilak M. Patel, Dominik A. Riechers, Douglas Scott, Gordon J. Stacey, Benjamin J. Vaughan, Samantha Walker, Ruixuan, Xie. 2026-08-25. CCAT: The Prime-Cam Instrument for the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope -- Overview and Status. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3105297

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Performance characterization of a new Structural and Thermal Architecture for a future spaceborne Closed-Cycle Dilution Refrigerator

A Structural and Thermal Model (STM) has been developed to support the new spaceborne Closed-Cycle Dilution Refrigerator (CCDR), which aims to provide continuous cooling at 100~mK for long-duration astrophysical missions. The STM is based on a hexapod architecture that ensures both thermal decoupling and mechanical robustness during launch. In this paper, we present the characterization of its thermal and mechanical performances. A dedicated experimental setup was used to investigate the thermal behavior of the STM across a broad temperature range. The study reveals limitations of the collar design, with incomplete power interception from thermal boundary resistances and vibration test failure traced to defective strut gluing. These results guide the next STM iteration with optimized collar and strut assembly for reliable CCDR operation in space.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

The Simons Observatory: Development of a Pipeline to Detect Rapid Transients in Time-Ordered Data

We introduce a method for detecting astrophysical transients evolving on timescales of milliseconds to minutes using cosmic microwave background (CMB) survey telescopes. While previous transient searches in CMB data operate in map space, our pipeline directly processes the raw time-ordered data, enabling sensitivity to fast, dynamic signals. We integrate our detection approach into the Simons Observatory time-domain pipeline and assess the performance by injecting symmetric, stellar flare-like light curves into simulated observations. For events flaring with a timescale of 0.5 s, the pipeline detects $\gtrsim90$ % of events at flux densities of 800, 1150, 1650, and 4250\,mJy when measured in the 93, 145, 225, and 280 GHz bands respectively. At a fixed peak flux density, the pipeline more readily detects longer flares. The limiting flux density for 90 % completeness is four times lower for a $\ge5$ s flare than for a 0.5 s flare, while the flux density limits for $\gtrsim50$ % detection efficiency are comparable to the rms noise of the time-ordered data. We are able to determine the position of detected events in each observing band, with a positional uncertainty at the detection threshold comparable to the telescope resolution at that band. These results demonstrate the readiness of this pipeline for incorporation into upcoming Simons Observatory data analyses.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Thermal conductivity of various CFRPs from 100 mK to 20 K

Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are some of the most useful materials for building spacecraft and aerospace tools. They are especially valuable for systems that work at extremely cold (cryogenic) temperatures because they are strong, lightweight, and don't transfer heat easily. In this study, researchers measured how well heat moves through several different types of carbon fiber samples, specifically T300, T700, HS40, M55J, and IMA, at different fiber layouts and densities. These measurements were taken at ultra-cold temperatures ranging from 100 mK to 20 K. The team used a newly developed analysis method to calculate the thermal conductivity for each sample. Finally, they shared how each material behaved at different temperatures and compared their findings to previous research.

astro-ph.IM↗