Back to Search Start Over

BRAIN/MBI: a bolometric interferometer dedicated to the CMB polarization

Authors :
Tartari, A.
Bartlett, J. G.
Elia Stefano Battistelli
Baù, A.
Bennett, D.
Bergé, L.
Bernard, J. P.
Bounab, A.
Bréelle, E.
Bunn, E.
Charlassier, R.
Cruciani, A.
Collin, S.
Curran, G.
Paolo de Bernardis
Dumoulin, L.
Gault, A.
Gervasi, M.
Ghribi, A.
Giard, M.
Giordano, C.
Giraud Héraud, Y.
Gradziel, M.
Guglielmi, L.
Hamilton, J. C.
Haynes, V.
Iacoangeli, A.
Kaplan, J.
Korotkov, A.
Lande, J.
Maffei, B.
Maiello, M.
Malu, S. S.
Marnieros, S.
Silvia Masi
Murphy, A.
Sullivan, C. O.
Pajot, F.
Passerini, A.
Peterzen, S. S.
Francesco Piacentini
Piccirillo, L.
Piat, M.
Giampaolo Pisano
Polenta, G.
Prêle, D.
Rosset, C.
Schillaci, Alessandro
Sironi, G.
Spinelli, S.
Tucker, G.
Timbie, P.
Voisin, F.
Watson, B.
Zannoni, M.
Tartari, A
Bartlett, J
Battistelli, E
Bau', A
Bennett, D
Bergè, L
Bernard, J
Bounab, A
Brèelle, E
Bunn, E
Charlassier, R
Cruciani, A
Collin, S
Curran, G
De Bernardis, P
Dumoulin, L
Gault, A
Gervasi, M
Ghribi, A
Giard, M
Giordano, C
Giraud Hèraud, J
Gradziel, M
Guglielmi, L
Hamilton, J
Haynes, V
Iacoangeli, A
Kaplan, J
Korotkov, A
Lande, J
Maffei, B
Maiello, M
Malu, S
Marnieros, S
Masi, S
Murphy, A
O'Sullivan, C
Pajot, F
Passerini, A
Peterzen, S
Piacentini, F
Piccirillo, L
Piat, M
Pisano, G
Polenta, G
Prêle, D
Rosset, C
Schillaci, A
Sironi, G
Spinelli, S
Tucker, G
Timbie, P
Voisin, F
Watson, B
Zannoni, M
Source :
Sapienza Università di Roma-IRIS
Publication Year :
2009

Abstract

BRAIN/MBI is a mm-wave ground-based experiment dedicated to the study of the B-modes of CMB polarization. It is based on the bolometric interferometry (BI) technique, and it is the result of the merging of two different projects proposed in the last years: BRAIN (France, Italy, UK) and MBI 4 (US, UK). BI is a technique already validated in a laboratory environment using small scale demonstrators employing as detectors standard 4 K bolometers. In fact, both the MBI and BRAIN teams demonstrated that interference fringes are observed once the signals coming from the two antennas of a single baseline are phase-shifted, combined and then detected. Both optical and wave-guided combination schemes have been tested within the collaboration. From the hardware point of view, the simplest unity of BRAIN/MBI is constituted by a feed horn, an OMT, and two independent phase shifters for each polarization. After phase shifting, the two beams coming out from each unity, feed a beam combiner redirecting the signals towards the detectors. Some of the most critical components, that are OMTs, phase-shifters and possibly detectors, will be made using superconducting technologies and are now under development. Moreover, detailed calculations showed that the sensitivity of a bolometric interferometer, if operated with a proper phase modulation-demodulation scheme, can approach that one of an imager with a comparable number of detectors, while exploiting the systematics cleaness of compact interferometers. On one side, BRAIN/MBI will be an instrument with a sensitivity and a polarization purity suitable for the detection of B-modes. On the other side, it will be a benchmark for new and promisings technologies that may be qualified for the CMB science in perspective of a post-Planck space mission. Since BI is prone to different contaminations from systematics with respect to imagers, a cross-check of the results and a comparison of two conceptually orthogonal strategies will finally be possible

Details

Language :
English
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Sapienza Università di Roma-IRIS
Accession number :
edsair.dedup.wf.001..4bd5c05c5aa4b6054aa077b17b571ee0