The BICEP2 CMB polarization experiment

R. W. Ogburn IV, P. A R Ade, R. W. Aikin, M. Amiri, S. J. Benton, J. J. Bock, J. A. Bonetti, J. A. Brevik, 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. KeatingJ. M. Kovac, C. L. Kuo, A. E. Lange, E. M. Leitch, C. B. Netterfield, H. T. Nguyen, A. Orlando, C. L. Pryke, C. Reintsema, S. Richter, J. E. Ruhl, M. C. Runyan, C. D. Sheehy, Z. K. Staniszewski, S. A. Stokes, R. V. Sudiwala, G. P. Teply, J. E. Tolan, A. D. Turner, P. Wilson, C. L. Wong

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

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Bicep2 telescope is designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background on angular scales near 2-4 degrees, near the expected peak of the B-mode polarization signal induced by primordial gravitational waves from inflation. Bicep2 follows the success of Bicep, which has set the most sensitive current limits on B-modes on 2-4 degree scales. The experiment adopts a new detector design in which beam-defining slot antennas are coupled to TES detectors photolithographically patterned in the same silicon wafer, with multiplexing SQUID readout. Bicep2 takes advantage of this design's higher focal-plane packing density, ease of fabrication, and multiplexing readout to field more detectors than Bicep1, improving mapping speed by nearly a factor of 10. Bicep2 was deployed to the South Pole in November 2009 with 500 polarization-sensitive detectors at 150 GHz, and is funded for two seasons of observation. The first months' data demonstrate the performance of the Caltech/JPL antenna-coupled TES arrays, and two years of observation with Bicep2 will achieve unprecedented sensitivity to B-modes on degree angular scales.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
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

Conference

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

Keywords

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

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