Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 792, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/62
Keywords
cosmic background radiation; cosmology: observations; gravitational waves; inflation; instrumentation: polarimeters; telescopes
Categories
Funding
- U.S. National Science Foundation [ANT-0742818, ANT-1044978, ANT-0742592, ANT-1110087]
- NASA APRA and SAT programs [06-ARPA206-0040, 10-SAT10-0017]
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation at Caltech
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
- W.M. Keck Foundation
- FAS Science Division Research Computing Group at Harvard University
- JPL Research and Technology Development Fund
- STFC [ST/K000926/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences [1255358] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Physics [1125897] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Office of Polar Programs (OPP) [1145143] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Office of Polar Programs (OPP) [1145172] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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We report on the design and performance of the BICEP2 instrument and on its three-year data set. BICEP2 was designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on angular scales of 1 degrees-5 degrees(l = 40-200), near the expected peak of the B-mode polarization signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic inflation. Measuring B-modes requires dramatic improvements in sensitivity combined with exquisite control of systematics. The BICEP2 telescope observed from the South Pole with a 26 cm aperture and cold, on-axis, refractive optics. BICEP2 also adopted a new detector design in which beam-defining slot antenna arrays couple to transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers, all fabricated on a common substrate. The antenna-coupled TES detectors supported scalable fabrication and multiplexed readout that allowed BICEP2 to achieve a high detector count of 500 bolometers at 150 GHz, giving unprecedented sensitivity to B-modes at degree angular scales. After optimization of detector and readout parameters, BICEP2 achieved an instrument noise-equivalent temperature of 15.8 mu K root s. The full data set reached Stokes Q and U map depths of 87.2 nK in square-degree pixels (5'.2 mu K) over an effective area of 384 deg(2) within a 1000 deg(2) field. These are the deepest CMB polarization maps at degree angular scales to date. The power spectrum analysis presented in a companion paper has resulted in a significant detection of B-mode polarization at degree scales.
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