Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published August 19, 2014 | Published + Submitted
Book Section - Chapter Open

BICEP3: a 95GHz refracting telescope for degree-scale CMB polarization

Abstract

Bicep3 is a 550 mm-aperture refracting telescope for polarimetry of radiation in the cosmic microwave background at 95 GHz. It adopts the methodology of Bicep1, Bicep2 and the Keck Array experiments | it possesses sufficient resolution to search for signatures of the inflation-induced cosmic gravitational-wave background while utilizing a compact design for ease of construction and to facilitate the characterization and mitigation of systematics. However, Bicep3 represents a significant breakthrough in per-receiver sensitivity, with a focal plane area 5x larger than a Bicep2/Keck Array receiver and faster optics (f=1:6 vs. f=2:4). Large-aperture infrared-reflective metal-mesh filters and infrared-absorptive cold alumina filters and lenses were developed and implemented for its optics. The camera consists of 1280 dual-polarization pixels; each is a pair of orthogonal antenna arrays coupled to transition-edge sensor bolometers and read out by multiplexed SQUIDs. Upon deployment at the South Pole during the 2014-15 season, Bicep3 will have survey speed comparable to Keck Array 150 GHz (2013), and will signifcantly enhance spectral separation of primordial B-mode power from that of possible galactic dust contamination in the Bicep2 observation patch.

Additional Information

© 2014 SPIE. Date Published: 19 August 2014. This work is made possible through support from the National Science Foundation (grant nos. 1313158, 1313010, 1313062, 1313287, 1056465, 0960243), the SLAC Laboratory Directed Research and Development Fund, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the British Columbia Development Fund. The development of detector technology was supported by the JPL Research and Technology Development Fund and grants 06-ARPA206-0040, 10-SAT10-0017 and 12-SAT12-0031 from the NASA APRA and SAT programs. The development and testing of detector modules was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. We thank Ryne Tacker and Grey Brooks at Laserod Technologies LLC, Ed Reese and Keith Caban at SLAC Precision Measurement & Inspection, and Mehmet Solyali and Karlheinz Merkle at the Stanford Physics Machine Shop for their cooperation, persistence and ingenuity in addressing technical challenges. We are grateful to Irene Coyle, Kathy Deniston, Donna Hernandez, and Dana Volponi for administrative support. Finally, we thanks members of the larger Bicep/Keck Array family for valuable discussions and sharing decades of experience with us.

Attached Files

Published - Ahmed_2014p91531N.pdf

Submitted - 1407.5928v1.pdf

Files

1407.5928v1.pdf
Files (16.3 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:b5b938dd542c897e163b0b1c76ed0f77
12.2 MB Preview Download
md5:ba1007d27a0c5c094ae189d802290b49
4.1 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
January 13, 2024