A cryogenic rotation stage with a large clear aperture for the half-wave plates in the Spider instrument

We describe the cryogenic half-wave plate rotation mechanisms built for and used in Spider, a polarization-sensitive balloon-borne telescope array that observed the Cosmic Microwave Background at 95 GHz and 150 GHz during a stratospheric balloon flight from Antarctica in January 2015. The mechanisms...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of Scientific Instruments
Main Authors: Bryan, S, Ade, P, Amiri, M, Benton, S, Bihary, R, Bock, J, Bond, JR, Chiang, HC, Contaldi, C, Crill, B, Dore, O, Elder, B, Filippini, J, Fraisse, A, Gambrel, A, Gandilo, N, Gudmundsson, J, Hasselfield, M, Halpern, M, Hilton, G, Holmes, W, Hristov, V, Irwin, K, Jones, W, Kermish, Z, Lawrie, C, MacTavish, C, Mason, P, Megerian, K, Moncelsi, L, Montroy, T, Morford, T, Nagy, J, Netterfield, CB, Padilla, I, Rahlin, AS, Reintsema, C, Riley, DC, Ruhl, J, Runyan, M, Saliwanchik, B, Shariff, J, Soler, J, Trangsrud, A, Tucker, C, Tucker, R, Turner, A, Wen, S, Wiebe, D, Young, E
Other Authors: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: American Institute of Physics (AIP) 2015
Subjects:
Science & Technology
Technology
Physical Sciences
Instruments & Instrumentation
Physics
Applied
POLARIMETRY
POLARIZATION
SYSTEMATICS
astro-ph.IM
astro-ph.CO
09 Engineering
02 Physical Sciences
03 Chemical Sciences
Applied Physics
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/51616
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4939435
Description
Summary:We describe the cryogenic half-wave plate rotation mechanisms built for and used in Spider, a polarization-sensitive balloon-borne telescope array that observed the Cosmic Microwave Background at 95 GHz and 150 GHz during a stratospheric balloon flight from Antarctica in January 2015. The mechanisms operate at liquid helium temperature in flight. A three-point contact design keeps the mechanical bearings relatively small but allows for a large (305 mm) diameter clear aperture. A worm gear driven by a cryogenic stepper motor allows for precise positioning and prevents undesired rotation when the motors are depowered. A custom-built optical encoder system monitors the bearing angle to an absolute accuracy of +/- 0.1 degrees. The system performed well in Spider during its successful 16 day flight.

Similar Items