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 $\sigma (r)$ 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.

9 pages, 5 figures, presented at LTD18 in Milan (July 2019), accepted on JLTP (February 2020)

References in corpus (11)

• Signature of Gravity Waves in Polarization of the Microwave Background
• Planck 2015 results. XI. CMB power spectra, likelihoods, and robustness of parameters
• BICEP2 / Keck Array x: Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves using Planck, WMAP, and New BICEP2/Keck Observations through the 2015 Season
• BICEP Array: a multi-frequency degree-scale CMB polarimeter
• 2017 upgrade and performance of BICEP3: a 95GHz refracting telescope for degree-scale CMB polarization
• Microwave multiplexing on the Keck Array
• Magnetic Sensitivity of AlMn TESes and Shielding Considerations for Next-Generation CMB Surveys
• Design and performance of wide-band corrugated walls for the BICEP Array detector modules at 30/40 GHz
• Optical characterization of the Keck Array and BICEP3 CMB Polarimeters from 2016 to 2019
• Characterizing the Sensitivity of 40 GHz TES Bolometers for BICEP Array
• Optical Design and Characterization of 40-GHz Detector and Module for the BICEP Array

Cited by in corpus (12)

• CCAT-prime Collaboration: Science Goals and Forecasts with Prime-Cam on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope
• A Review of X-ray Microcalorimeters Based on Superconducting Transition Edge Sensors for Astrophysics and Particle Physics
• A Demonstration of Improved Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves with Delensing
• BICEP / Keck XIV: Improved constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Map-Based Noise Simulations for DR6
• BICEP / Keck XII: Constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background
• QUBIC II: Spectro-Polarimetry with Bolometric Interferometry
• Characterizing the Sensitivity of 40 GHz TES Bolometers for BICEP Array
• Total power horn-coupled 150 GHz LEKID array for space applications
• Photon noise correlations in millimeter-wave telescopes
• The next frontiers for magnetic monopole searches
• Response of a Cold-Electron Bolometer in a coplanar antenna system