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

• Main Authors: Ahmed, Z., Bock, J. J., Filippini, J. P., Hristov, V. V., Hui, H., O'Brient, R.
• Other Authors: Holland, Wayne S., Zmuidzinas, Jonas
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 2014
• Subjects: South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://authors.library.caltech.edu/58211/; https://authors.library.caltech.edu/58211/1/Ahmed_2014p91531N.pdf; https://authors.library.caltech.edu/58211/2/1407.5928v1.pdf; https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150612-093708146

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.