First implementation of TES bolometer arrays with SQUID-based multiplexed readout on a balloon-borne platform

• Published in: SPIE Proceedings, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V
• Main Authors: Aubin, François, Matsumura, Tomotake
• Other Authors: Holland, Wayne S., Zmuidzinas, Jonas
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 2010
• Subjects: TES; bolometer; SQUID; CMB; balloon-borne; multiplexing; Canada; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857596

EBEX (the E and B EXperiment) is a balloon-borne telescope designed to measure the polarisation of the cosmic microwave background radiation. During a two week long duration science flight over Antarctica, EBEX will operate 768, 384 and 280 spider-web transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers at 150, 250 and 410 GHz, respectively. The 10-hour EBEX engineering flight in June 2009 over New Mexico and Arizona provided the first usage of both a large array of TES bolometers and a Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) based multiplexed readout in a space-like environment. This successful demonstration increases the technology readiness level of these bolometers and the associated readout system for future space missions. A total of 82, 49 and 82 TES detectors were operated during the engineering flight at 150, 250 and 410 GHz. The sensors were read out with a new SQUID-based digital frequency domain multiplexed readout system that was designed to meet the low power consumption and robust autonomous operation requirements presented by a balloon experiment. Here we describe the system and the remote, automated tuning of the bolometers and SQUIDs. We compare results from tuning at float to ground, and discuss bolometer performance during flight. © 2010 SPIE The International Society for Optical Engineering. EBEX is a NASA supported mission through grants number NNX08AG40G and NNX07AP36H.We also acknowledge support from French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). This project makes use of the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) supported by the office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The McGill authors acknowledge funding from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Natural Sciences Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Canadian Foundation fo Innovation (CFI) and Canada ...