bicep2/KECK ARRAY. IV. OPTICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF THE bicep2 AND KECK ARRAY EXPERIMENTS

Journal Article · Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/806/2/206· OSTI ID:22522269

Ade, P. A. R. ^[1]; Aikin, R. W.; Bock, J. J.; Brevik, J. A.; Filippini, J. P.; Golwala, S. R.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hui, H. ^[2]; Barkats, D. ^[3]; Benton, S. J. ^[4]; Bischoff, C. A.; Bradford, K. J.; Buder, I. ^[5]; Bullock, E. ^[6]; Dowell, C. D. ^[7]; Duband, L. ^[8]; Fliescher, S. ^[9]; Halpern, M.; Hasselfield, M. ^[10]; others, and

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1. School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
2. Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
3. Joint ALMA Observatory, ESO, Santiago (Chile)
4. Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON (Canada)
5. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street MS 42, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
6. Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)
7. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
8. Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA INAC-SBT, F-38000 Grenoble (France)
9. Department of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)
10. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada)

bicep2 and the Keck Array are polarization-sensitive microwave telescopes that observe the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the South Pole at degree angular scales in search of a signature of inflation imprinted as B-mode polarization in the CMB. bicep2 was deployed in late 2009, observed for three years until the end of 2012 at 150 GHz with 512 antenna-coupled transition edge sensor bolometers, and has reported a detection of B-mode polarization on degree angular scales. The Keck Array was first deployed in late 2010 and will observe through 2016 with five receivers at several frequencies (95, 150, and 220 GHz). bicep2 and the Keck Array share a common optical design and employ the field-proven bicep1 strategy of using small-aperture, cold, on-axis refractive optics, providing excellent control of systematics while maintaining a large field of view. This design allows for full characterization of far-field optical performance using microwave sources on the ground. Here we describe the optical design of both instruments and report a full characterization of the optical performance and beams of bicep2 and the Keck Array at 150 GHz.

• OSTI ID: 22522269
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 806, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ANTENNAS
BACKGROUND RADIATION
BOLOMETERS
COSMOLOGY
DETECTION
GHZ RANGE
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE
OPTICS
POLARIZATION
RELICT RADIATION
SENSORS
TELESCOPES