Initial performance of the BICEP2 antenna-coupled superconducting bolometers at the South Pole

J. A. Brevik, R. W. Aikin, M. Amiri, S. J. Benton, J. J. Bock, J. A. Bonetti, B. Burger, C. D. Dowell, L. Duband, J. P. Filippini, S. R. Golwala, M. Halpern, M. Hasselfield, G. Hilton, V. V. Hristov, K. Irwin, J. P. Kaufman, B. G. Keating, J. M. Kovac, C. L. KuoA. E. Lange, E. M. Leitch, C. B. Netterfield, H. T. Nguyen, R. W. Ogburn IV, A. Orlando, C. Pryke, C. Reintsema, S. Richter, J. E. Ruhl, M. Runyan, C. Sheehy, Z. Staniszewski, R. Sudiwala, J. E. Tolan, A. D. Turner, P. Wilson, C. L. Wong

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report on the preliminary detector performance of the Bicep2 mm-wave polarimeter, deployed in 2009 to the South Pole. Bicep2 is currently imaging the polarization of the cosmic microwave background at 150 GHz using an array of 512 antenna-coupled superconducting bolometers. The antennas, band-defining filters and transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers are photolithographically fabricated on 4 silicon tiles. Each tile consists of an 8×8 grid of ~7 mm spatial pixels, for a total of 256 detector pairs. A spatial pixel contains 2 sets of orthogonal antenna slots summed in-phase, with each set coupled to a TES by a filtered microstrip. The detectors are read out using time-domain multiplexed SQUIDs. The detector pair of each spatial pixel is differenced to measure polarization. We report on the performance of the Bicep2 detectors in the field, including the focal plane yield, detector and multiplexer optimization, detector noise and stability, and a preliminary estimate of the improvement in mapping speed compared to Bicep1.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes
EventMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: Jun 29 2010Jul 2 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume7741
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Other

OtherMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period6/29/107/2/10

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

  • Cosmic microwave background
  • cosmology
  • gravitational waves
  • inflation
  • noise
  • polarization
  • TES

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