Polarization Calibration of the QUaD Experiment

• Main Author: Piccirillo, Lucio
• Other Authors: Bastien, Pierre, Manset, Nadine, Clemens, Dan P, St-Louis, Nicole
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2011
• Subjects: Austral; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/a98914ee-d682-4c10-8147-a887e0d6d050

We describe the polarization calibration of the QUaD experiment, including determination of the polarization efficiency of the detectors and their orientation angles. QUaD is a millimeter-wavelength polarimeter that observed the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from a site at the South Pole. The experiment comprises a 2.64 m Cassegrain telescope equipped with a cryogenically cooled receiver containing an array of 62 polarization-sensitive bolometers. The focal plane contains pixels at two different frequency bands, 100 GHz and 150 GHz, with angular resolutions of 5prime and 3farcm5, respectively. The high angular resolution allows observation of CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies over a wide range of scales. The instrument commenced operation in early 2005 and collected science data during three successive Austral winter seasons of observation.