Design and performance of the first BICEP Array receiver
Abstract
Branches of cosmic inflationary models, such as slow-roll inflation, predict a background of primordial gravitational waves that imprints a unique odd-parity B-mode pattern in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at amplitudes that are within experimental reach. The BICEP/Keck (BK) experiment targets this primordial signature, the amplitude of which is parameterized by the tensor-to-scalar ratio r, by observing the polarized microwave sky through the exceptionally clean and stable atmosphere at the South Pole. B-mode measurements require an instrument with exquisite sensitivity, tight control of systematics, and wide frequency coverage to disentangle the primordial signal from the Galactic foregrounds. BICEP Array represents the most recent stage of the BK program, and comprises four BICEP3-class receivers observing at 30/40, 95, 150 and 220/270 GHz. The 30/40 GHz receiver will be deployed at the South Pole during the 2019/2020 austral summer. After 3 full years of observations with 30,000+ detectors, BICEP Array will measure primordial gravitational waves to a precision between 0.002 and 0.004, depending on foreground complexity and the degree of lensing removal. In this paper we give an overview of the instrument, highlighting the design features in terms of cryogenics, magnetic shielding, detectors and readout architecture as well as reporting on the integration and tests that are ongoing with the first receiver at 30/40 GHz.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2002.05228,
title = {Design and performance of the first BICEP Array receiver},
author = {A. Schillaci and P. A. R. Ade and Z. Ahmed and M. Amiri and D. Barkats and R. Basu Thakur and C. A. Bischoff and J. J. Bock and H. Boenish and E. Bullock and V. Buza and J. Cheshire and J. Connors and J. Cornelison and M. Crumrine and A. Cukierman and M. Dierickx and L. Duband and S. Fatigoni and J. P. Filippini and G. Hall and M. Halpern and S. Harrison and S. Henderson and S. R. Hildebrandt and G. C. Hilton and H. Hui and K. D. Irwin and J. Kang and K. S. Karkare and E. Karpel and S. Kefeli and J. M. Kovac and C. L. Kuo and K. Lau and K. G. Megerian and L. Moncelsi and T. Namikawa and H. T. Nguyen and R. O'Brient and S. Palladino and N. Precup and T. Prouvé and C. Pryke and B. Racine and C. D. Reintsema and S. Richter and B. Schmitt and R. Schwarz and C. D. Sheehy and A. Soliman and T. St. Germaine and B. Steinbach and R. V. Sudiwala and K. L. Thompson and C. Tucker and A. D. Turner and C. Umiltà and A. G. Vieregg and A. Wandui and A. C. Weber and D. V. Wiebe and J. Willmert and W. L. K. Wu and E. Yang and K. W. Yoon and E. Young and C. Yu and C. Zhang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.05228},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
9 pages, 5 figures, presented at LTD18 in Milan (July 2019), accepted on JLTP (February 2020)