2008/06/03 by B. P. Crill, P. A. R. Ade, E. S. Battistelli +35 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Superconducting and THz Device Technology #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1117/12.787446
To appear in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 7010, Editors: Jacobus M. Oschmann, Jr.; Mattheus W. M. de Graauw; Howard A. MacEwen, "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter"
openalex publication_date 2008/06/03 · arxiv created 2008/07/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Spider is a balloon-borne experiment that will measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background over a large fraction of a sky at ~ 1° resolution. Six monochromatic refracting millimeter-wave telescopes with large arrays of antenna-coupled transition-edge superconducting bolometers will provide system sensitivities of 4.2 and 3.1 μKcmb√s at 100 and 150 GHz, respectively. A rotating half-wave plate will modulate the polarization sensitivity of each telescope, controlling systematics. Bolometer arrays operating at 225 GHz and 275 GHz will allow removal of polarized galactic foregrounds. In a 2-6 day first flight from Alice Springs, Australia in 2010, Spider will map 50% of the sky to a depth necessary to improve our knowledge of the reionization optical depth by a large factor.