2010/07/07 by J. P. Filippini, P. A. R. Ade, M. Amiri +41 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Superconducting and THz Device Technology #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.IM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1117/12.857720
12 pages, 6 figures; as published in the conference proceedings for SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy V (2010)
openalex publication_date 2010/07/07 · arxiv created 2011/06/10 · arxiv updated 2011/06/13 · openalex created_date 2019/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We describe SPIDER, a balloon-borne instrument to map the polarization of the millimeter-wave sky with degree angular resolution. Spider consists of six monochromatic refracting telescopes, each illuminating a focal plane of large-format antenna-coupled bolometer arrays. A total of 2,624 superconducting transition-edge sensors are distributed among three observing bands centered at 90, 150, and 280 GHz. A cold half-wave plate at the aperture of each telescope modulates the polarization of incoming light to control systematics. SPIDER's first flight will be a 20-30-day Antarctic balloon campaign in December 2011. This flight will map ~8% of the sky to achieve unprecedented sensitivity to the polarization signature of the gravitational wave background predicted by inflationary cosmology. The SPIDER mission will also serve as a proving ground for these detector technologies in preparation for a future satellite mission.