First astronomical images obtained with an array of multiplexed superconducting bolometers

We present multicolor images of Jupiter observed in the 350 mu m band with the first deployed astronomical instrument to use multiplexed superconducting bolometers. The Fabry-Perot Interferometer Bolometer Research Experiment (FIBRE) is a broadband submillimeter spectrometer that made these images in July 2004 at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO). FIBREs detectors are superconducting bilayer transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers read out by a SQUID multiplexer. An order-sorted Fabry-Perot provides illumination of a 16-element linear bolometer array, resulting in five orders at a spectral resolution R of 1200 covering a band of of the observed wavelength. The optics permit these orders to be scanned to cover the entirety of either the 350 or 450 mu m bands. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.