Aperture Field Recovery of a Reflector Radio Telescope using Phase Shifting Holography

A new method was recently proposed for reconstructing the aperture field of a reflector radio telescope with an active surface by recording three holograms having fixed phase shifts of the reference wave. We discuss the requirements to the noise characteristics of the antenna system, transmitter, and receiver that is necessary for the successful application of the method to the radio telescope surface diagnostics. In order to achieve the necessary SNR two horn transmitter or receiver scheme is proposed for RATAN-600 or a space radio telescope with an active surface. We present the results of numerical simulations, as well as the initial experimental results radio telescope.