The SPIDER CMB Polarimeter

Author: Trangsrud, Amy Ruth

Year: 2012

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisors: Golwala, Sunil; Lange, Andrew E.

Committee Members: Golwala, Sunil; Readhead, Anthony C. S.; Harrison, Fiona A.; Hirata, Christopher M.

Option: Physics

DOI: 10.7907/83YV-A258

Abstract

SPIDER is a balloon-borne millimeter-wave telescope designed to study the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). SPIDER will map 10% of the full sky with degree-scale beams to search for the distinctive inflationary gravitational wave signal on angular scales between 1 degree and 10 degrees, thereby probing the energy scale of inflation. In its first flight, SPIDER will field 2,400 antenna-coupled bolometers split between two bands centered at 93 GHz and 148 GHz. Slot antenna arrays, band defining microstrip filters and superconducting bolometers are all fabricated photolithographically on a shared silicon substrate. SPIDER's detectors are split amongst six monochromatic on-axis refractors in a shared helium-cooled cryostat. This thesis reviews the design of SPIDER and its antenna-coupled bolometers, and details the currently achieved performance of SPIDER's receivers.

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