Optical Design of the EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM)

Abstract

This work describes the design and implementation of optics for EXCLAIM, the EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping. EXCLAIM is a balloon-borne telescope that will measure integrated line emission from carbon monoxide (CO) at redshifts $z<1$ and ionized carbon ([CII]) at redshifts $z=2.5-3.5$ to probe star formation over cosmic time in cross-correlation with galaxy redshift surveys. The EXCLAIM instrument is designed to observe at frequencies of $420$--$540$ GHz using six microfabricated silicon integrated spectrometers with spectral resolving power $R=512$ coupled to kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). A completely cryogenic telescope cooled to a temperature below 5~K provides low-background observations between narrow atmospheric lines in the stratosphere. Off-axis reflective optics use a $90$-cm primary mirror to provide $4.2^{\prime }$ full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) resolution at the center of the EXCLAIM band over a field of view of $22.5^{\prime }$. Illumination of the $1.7$ K cold stop combined with blackened baffling at multiple places in the optical system ensure low ($<-40$ dB) edge illumination of the primary to minimize spill onto warmer elements at the top of the dewar.

15 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables