Person: Bowens-Rubin, Rachel
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Publication BICEP3 performance overview and planned Keck Array upgrade
(2016) Grayson, J. A.; Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Alexander, Kate; Amiri, M.; Barkats, Denis; Benton, S. J.; Bischoff, Colin; Bock, J. J.; Boenish, H.; Bowens-Rubin, Rachel; Buder, I; Bullock, E.; Buza, Victor; Connors, Jake Anthony; Filippini, J. P.; Fliescher, S.; Halpern, M.; Harrison, Sarah; Hilton, G. C.; Hristov, V. V.; Hui, H.; Irwin, K. D.; Kang, J.; Karkare, Kirit Sukrit; Karpel, E.; Kefeli, S.; Kernasovskiy, S. A.; Kovac, John; Kuo, C. L.; Leitch, E. M.; Lueker, M.; Megerian, K. G.; Monticue, V.; Namikawa, T.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nguyen, H. T.; O, R.; Ogburn, R. W.; Pryke, C; Reintsema, C. D.; Richter, Sonja Valeska; Schwarz, R.; Sorenson, C.; Sheehy, C. D.; Staniszewski, Z. K.; Steinbach, B.; Teply, G. P.; Thompson, K. L.; Tolan, J. E.; Tucker, C.; Turner, A. D.; Vieregg, A. G.; Wandui, A.; Weber, A. C.; Wiebe, D. V.; Willmert, J.; Wu, W. L. K.; Yoon, K. W.Bicep3 is a 520 mm aperture, compact two-lens refractor designed to observe the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at 95 GHz. Its focal plane consists of modularized tiles of antenna-coupled transition edge sensors (TESs), similar to those used in Bicep2 and the Keck Array. The increased per-receiver optical throughput compared to Bicep2/Keck Array, due to both its faster f /1.7 optics and the larger aperture, more than doubles the combined mapping speed of the Bicep/Keck program. The Bicep3 receiver was recently upgraded to a full complement of 20 tiles of detectors (2560 TESs) and is now beginning its second year of observation (and first science season) at the South Pole. We report on its current performance and observing plans. Given its high per-receiver throughput while maintaining the advantages of a compact design, Bicep3class receivers are ideally suited as building blocks for a 3rd-generation CMB experiment, consisting of multiple receivers spanning 35 GHz to 270 GHz with total detector count in the tens of thousands. We present plans for such an array, the new “Bicep Array” that will replace the Keck Array at the South Pole, including design optimization, frequency coverage, and deployment/observing strategies.
Publication BICEP3: A 95GHz Refracting Telescope for Degree-Scale CMB Polarization
(International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2014) Ahmed, Z.; Amiri, M.; Benton, S. J.; Bock, J. J.; Bowens-Rubin, Rachel; Buder, I; Bullock, E.; Connors, Jake Anthony; Filippini, J. P.; Grayson, J. A.; Halpern, M.; Hilton, G. C.; Hristov, V. V.; Hui, H.; Irwin, K. D.; Kang, J.; Karkare, Kirit Sukrit; Karpel, E.; Kovac, John; Kuo, C. L.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nguyen, H. T.; O, R.; Ogburn, R. W.; Pryke, C; Reintsema, C. D.; Richter, Sonja Valeska; Thompson, K. L.; Turner, A. D.; Vieregg, A. G.; Wu, W. L. K.; Yoon, K. W.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 5× 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 significantly enhance spectral separation of primordial B-mode power from that of possible galactic dust contamination in the Bicep2 observation patch.