An Introduction to Radio/Submillimeter Interferometry

Alison Peck (Gemini Observatory)

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an international millimeter/submillimeter interferometer located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.
ALMA is situated on a high-altitude site at 5000m elevation, which provides excellent atmospheric transmission over most of the wavelength range of 0.3 to 3 mm. At 
the shortest planned wavelength and most extended con?guration, the angular resolution of ALMA will be ~5 milliarcseconds.  ALMA is about to announce the fifth
observing cycle, permitting observations in several receiver bands with at least 43 antennas and a variety of observing modes.   IfA will host an ALMA proposal
workshop in advance of the deadline, and to set the stage for that, I will provide an introduction to submillimeter interferometry for the novice, and talk a bit
about ALMA construction and commissioning.