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Abstract: The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10–m mm/sub-mm telescope at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. It''s primary science goals consist of a galaxy cluster survey for understanding Dark Energy and probing the physics of Inflation through the CMB polarization. Both science goals require exceptional sensitivity necessitating focal planes with many optical elements. The focal planes of the SPT utilize Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers to build arrays of nearly 1000 detectors. In this talk, I will present the TES bolometer technology for both the first SPT focal plane and its upcoming upgrade to a polarization sensitive array. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Boomerang is a balloon-borne telescope designed for long duration (LDB) flights around Antarctica. The second LDB flight of Boomerang took place in January 2003. The primary goal of this flight was to measure the polarization of the CMB. The receiver uses polarization sensitive bolometers at 145 GHz. Polarizing grids provide polarization sensitivity at 245 and 345 GHz. We describe the Boomerang telescope noting changes made for 2003 LDB flight, and discuss some of the issues involved in the measurement of polarization with bolometers. Lastly, we report on the 2003 flight and provide an estimate of the expected results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the mapping of polarized signatures that place extra constraints on early-universe physics. One pioneering experiment that has measured temperature anisotropies is Balloon Observations Of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics (BOOMERanG), a balloon-borne array of bolometer detectors. In January 2003 in Antarctica BOOMERanG succeeded in mapping detailed structures in polarized light at 145-gigahertz over a few percent of the full sky. The data of BOOMERanG data are consistent with the consensus cosmological model.