Design and deployment of bicep: a novel small-aperture CMB polarimeter to test inflationary cosmology

Citation

Yoon, Ki Won (2008) Design and deployment of bicep: a novel small-aperture CMB polarimeter to test inflationary cosmology. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-10092007-162326

Abstract

BICEP is a ground-based millimeter-wave bolometric array designed to study the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) and galactic foreground emission. Such measurements probe the energy scale of the inflationary epoch, tighten constraints on cosmological parameters, and verify our current understanding of CMB physics. BICEP consists of a 250 mm aperture refractive telescope that provides an instantaneous field-of-view of 17 degrees with angular resolution of 0.93 and 0.60 degrees at 100 GHz and 150 GHz, respectively, coupled to a focal plane of 98 polarization-sensitive bolometers.

This work details the design and characterization of the instrument, with discussion of preliminary results from data collected beginning inaugural 2006 observing season at the South Pole through present. Instrument testing indicates that the systematic contaminations of the B-mode will be below the threshold required for probing down to a tensor/scalar ratio of r = 0.1. Positive detection of the E-mode polarization is reported, while the B-mode maps are consistent with noise. In addition, the fractional polarization of the galactic foreground is constrained to f < 0.05 at moderate galactic latitudes.

Thesis Files