CMB polarimetry with BICEP: instrument characterization, calibration, and performance

• Published in: SPIE Proceedings, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
• Main Authors: Takahashi, Yuki D., Barkats, Denis, Battle, John O., Bierman, Evan M., Bock, James J., Chiang, H. Cynthia, Dowell, C. Darren, Hivon, Eric F., Holzapfel, William L., Hristov, Viktor V., Jones, William C., Kaufman, J. P., Keating, Brian G., Kovac, John M., Kuo, Chao-Lin, Lange, Andrew E., Leitch, Erik M., Mason, Peter V., Matsumura, Tomotake, Nguyen, Hien T., Ponthieu, Nicolas, Rocha, Graca M., Yoon, Ki Won, Ade, Peter A. R., Duband, L.
• Other Authors: Duncan, William D., Holland, Wayne S., Withington, Stafford, Zmuidzinas, Jonas
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: SPIE 2008
• Subjects: QC Physics; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/34279/; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.790306

Bicep is a ground-based millimeter-wave bolometric array designed to target the primordial gravity wave signatureon the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at degree angular scales. Currentlyin its third year of operation at the South Pole, Bicep is measuring the CMB polarization with unprecedentedsensitivity at 100 and 150 GHz in the cleanest available 2% of the sky, as well as deriving independent constraintson the diffuse polarized foregrounds with select observations on and off the Galactic plane. Instrumentcalibrations are discussed in the context of rigorous control of systematic errors, and the performance during thefirst two years of the experiment is reviewed.