Experimental set-up for detecting very fast and dispersed millisecond pulsars

We have developed observational and data processing techniques for detectin g millisecond pulsars. The method of data processing consists in correlatin g time series of data by folding them in two steps according to a trial per iod. While very time consuming, especially for very short periods, this met hods allows us in principle to detect very fast and dispersed millisecond p ulsars. The experimental set-up has been integrated into a data acquisition system developed at Centre national d'etudes spatiales (CNES). Observation s of known millisecond pulsars at Nancay radio observatory are used to vali date the system and assess the sensitivity of the survey, which is 3.5 mJy for 240 sec of integration. Future improvements in the radio-telescope and the system should bring it down to below 1 mJy. The application of the meth od to a millisecond pulsar survey is under way at Nancay radio observatory in collaboration between the Bureau international des poids et mesure (BIPM ), Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees (OMP), and CNES.