For cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization observations, calibration of detector polarization angles is essential. We have developed a fully remote controlled calibration system with a sparse wire grid that reflects linearly polarized light along the wire direction. The new feature is a remote-controlled system for regular calibration, which has not been possible in sparse wire grid calibrators in past experiments. The remote control can be achieved by two electric linear actuators that load or unload the sparse wire grid into a position centered on the optical axis of a telescope between the calibration time and CMB observation. Furthermore, the sparse wire grid can be rotated by a motor. A rotary encoder and a gravity sensor are installed on the sparse wire grid to monitor the wire direction. They allow us to achieve detector angle calibration with expected systematic error of 0.08∘. The calibration system will be installed in small-aperture telescopes at Simons Observatory.
@article{arxiv.2309.02035,
title = {The Simons Observatory: A fully remote controlled calibration system with a sparse wire grid for cosmic microwave background telescopes},
author = {Masaaki Murata and Hironobu Nakata and Kengo Iijima and Shunsuke Adachi and Yudai Seino and Kenji Kiuchi and Frederick Matsuda and Michael J. Randall and Kam Arnold and Nicholas Galitzki and Bradley R. Johnson and Brian Keating and Akito Kusaka and John B. Lloyd and Joseph Seibert and Maximiliano Silva-Feaver and Osamu Tajima and Tomoki Terasaki and Kyohei Yamada},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.02035},
year = {2024}
}