DESIGN PARAMETERS AND MEASURED PERFORMANCE OF THE IRAM 30-M MILLIMETER RADIO TELESCOPE

The ''Millimeter Radio Telescope'' (MRT) is operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter range (IRAM) and is located at 2 850-m altitude in the Sierra Nevada, near Granada, Spain. It is a refl ector antenna of 30-m diameter with a surface accuracy of 0.08 mm and a pointing accuracy of better than 2 arcsec. The telescope is equipped with sensitive receivers for the atmospheric windows between 0.8- and 7-mm wavelength. We describe the optics layout of the receiver and ca libration system, which allows simultaneous observations at a number o f frequencies. The special design aspects of the antenna, in particula r the control of thermal deformations and the achievement of a high re flector and pointing accuracy are described. We compare the design com putations with the characteristics of the telescope, derived from seve ral years of operation and optimization. The success of the design is demonstrated by our observational experience. We conclude the paper wi th a short review of some of the astronomical results obtained with th e telescope.