Published in
Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VII
DOI: 10.1117/12.2056380
Links
- ORCID
- ORCID
- Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
- [arxiv.org] | PDF
- [www.manchester.ac.uk]
- [orca.cf.ac.uk]
- [hdl.handle.net]
- [www.researchgate.net] | PDF
- [arxiv.org] | PDF
Tools
Development of large radii half-wave plates for CMB satellite missions
,
S. Masi ,
F. Piacentini,
L. Pagano,
M. Salatino,
B. Ellison,
M. Henry,
P. de Maagt,
B. Shortt
Full text: Download
Abstract
The successful European Space Agency (ESA) Planck mission has mapped the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy with unprecedented accuracy. However, Planck was not designed to detect the polarised components of the CMB with comparable precision. The BICEP2 collaboration has recently reported the first detection of the B-mode polarisation. ESA is funding the development of critical enabling technologies associated with B-mode polarisation detection, one of these being large diameter half-wave plates. We compare different polarisation modulators and discuss their respective trade-offs in terms of manufacturing, RF performance and thermo-mechanical properties. We then select the most appropriate solution for future satellite missions, optimized for the detection of B-modes. ; Comment: 16 pages