PAPPA: Primordial Anisotropy Polarization Pathfinder Array
Abstract
The Primordial Anisotropy Polarization Pathfinder Array (PAPPA) is a balloon-based instrument to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background and search for the signal from gravity waves excited during an inflationary epoch in the early universe. PAPPA will survey a 20 x 20 deg patch at the North Celestial Pole using 32 pixels in 3 passbands centered at 89, 212, and 302 GHz. Each pixel uses MEMS switches in a superconducting microstrip transmission line to combine the phase modulation techniques used in radio astronomy with the sensitivity of transition-edge superconducting bolometers. Each switched circuit modulates the incident polarization on a single detector, allowing nearly instantaneous characterization of the Stokes I, Q, and U parameters. We describe the instrument design and status.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0609546,
title = {PAPPA: Primordial Anisotropy Polarization Pathfinder Array},
author = {A. Kogut and D. T. Chuss and D. Fixsen and G. F. Hinshaw and M. Limon and S. H. Moseley and N. Phillips and E. Sharp and E. J. Wollack and K. U-Yen and N. Cao and T. Stevenson and W. Hsieh and M. Devlin and S. Dicker and C. Semisch and K. Irwin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0609546},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
12 pages, 9 figures. Proceedings of the Fundamental Physics With CMB workshop, UC Irvine, March 23-25, 2006, to be published in New Astronomy Reviews