Hsiao-Mei Cho

The South Pole Telescope

A new 10 meter diameter telescope is being constructed for deployment at the NSF South Pole research station. The telescope is designed for conducting large-area millimeter and sub-millimeter wave surveys of faint, low contrast emission, as required to map primary and secondary anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. To achieve the required sensitivity and resolution, the telescope design employs an off-axis primary with a 10 meter diameter clear aperture. The full aperture and the associated optics will have a combined surface accuracy of better than 20 microns rms to allow precision operation in the submillimeter atmospheric windows. The telescope will be surrounded with a large reflecting ground screen to reduce sensitivity to thermal emission from the ground and local interference. The optics of the telescope will support a degree field of view at 2mm wavelength and will feed a new 1000-element micro-lithographed planar bolometric array with superconducting transition-edge sensors and frequency-multiplexed readouts. The first key project will be to conduct a survey over &dbigwig;4000 degrees for galaxy clusters using the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect. This survey should find many thousands of clusters with a mass selection criteria that is remarkably uniform with redshift. Armed with redshifts obtained from optical and infrared follow-up observations, it is expected that the survey will enable significant constraints to be placed on the equation of state of the dark energy.

Frequency-domain multiplexed readout of transition-edge sensor arrays with a superconducting quantum interference device

We demonstrate an eight-channel frequency-domain readout multiplexer for superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs). Each sensor is biased with a sinusoidal voltage at a unique frequency. The sensor currents are summed and measured with a single superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) array. The 100-element SQUID array is operated with shunt feedback electronics that have a slew rate of 1.2×107Φ0∕s at 1MHz. The multiplexer readout noise is 6.5pA∕Hz, which is well below the expected sensor noise of 15pA∕Hz. We measure an upper limit on adjacent channel crosstalk of 0.004, which meets our design requirements. The demodulated noise spectra of multiplexed TESs are white at frequencies down to 200mHz.

The EBEX experiment

EBEX is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to measure the intensity and polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The measurements would probe the inflationary epoch that took place shortly after the big bang and would significantly improve constraints on the values of several cosmological parameters. EBEX is unique in its broad frequency coverage and in its ability to provide critical information about the level of polarized Galactic foregrounds which will be necessary for all future CMB polarization experiments. EBEX consists of a 1.5 m Dragone-type telescope that provides a resolution of less than 8 arcminutes over four focal planes each of 4 degree diffraction limited field of view at frequencies up to 450 GHz. The experiment is designed to accommodate 330 transition edge bolometric detectors per focal plane, for a total of up to 1320 detectors. EBEX will operate with frequency bands centered at 150, 250, 350, and 450 GHz. Polarimetry is achieved with a rotating achromatic half-wave plate. EBEX is currently in the design and construction phase, and first light is scheduled for 2008.

SPTpol: An instrument for CMB polarization

SPTpol will consist of an 850 element polarization sensitive bolometric camera deployed to the South Pole Telescope in late 2011. This camera is optimized for measurement of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background with arcminute resolution. These measurements will be used to constrain neutrino masses and to constrain the amplitude of gravitational waves from inflation. The camera includes two detector architectures that observe in two different frequency bands. At 150 GHz, SPTpol will use 650 feedhorn-coupled TES polarimeters fabricated at NIST. At 90 GHz, it will use 200 absorber-coupled polarimeters developed at Argonne National Lab. The NIST pixels will be coupled to the telescope using a monolithic array of corrugated feeds and the Argonne devices will be coupled with individually machined contoured feeds. The entire focal plane will be readout using a digital frequency-domain multiplexer system. We provide an overview of the project, describe the detectors and discuss the design of this system.

Corrugated silicon platelet feed horn array for CMB polarimetry at 150 GHz

Next generation cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization anisotropy measurements will feature focal plane arrays with more than 600 millimeter-wave detectors. We make use of high-resolution photolithography and wafer-scale etch tools to build planar arrays of corrugated platelet feeds in silicon with highly symmetric beams, low cross-polarization and low side lobes. A compact Au-plated corrugated Si feed designed for 150 GHz operation exhibited performance equivalent to that of electroformed feeds: ~ -0.2 dB insertion loss, < -20 dB return loss from 120 GHz to 170 GHz, < -25 dB side lobes and < -23 dB cross-polarization. We are currently fabricating a 50mm diameter array with 84 horns consisting of 33 Si platelets as a prototype for the SPTpol and ACTpol telescopes. Our fabrication facilities permit arrays up to 150mm in diameter.

Frequency-domain multiplexing for large-scale bolometer arrays

We describe the development of a frequency-domain multiplexer (MUX) to read out arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES). Fabrication of large-format arrays of these sensors is becoming practical; however, reading out each sensor in the array is a major instrumental challenge that is possibly solved by frequency-domain multiplexing. Each sensor is AC biased at a different frequency, ranging from 380 kHz to 1 MHz. The sensor signal amplitude-modulates its respective AC bias frequency. An LC filter associated with each sensor suppresses Johnson noise from the other sensors. The signals are combined at a current summing node and measured by a single superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The individual signals from each sensor are then lock-in detected by room temperature electronics. Test chips with fully lithographed LC filters for up to 32 channels have been designed and fabricated. The capacitance and inductance values have been measured and are close to the design goals. We discuss the basic principles of frequency-domain multiplexing, the design and testing of the test chips, and the implementation of a practical system.

Advanced Code-Division Multiplexers for Superconducting Detector Arrays

Multiplexers based on the modulation of superconducting quantum interference devices are now regularly used in multi-kilopixel arrays of superconducting detectors for astrophysics, cosmology, and materials analysis. Over the next decade, much larger arrays will be needed. These larger arrays require new modulation techniques and compact multiplexer elements that fit within each pixel. We present a new in-focal-plane code-division multiplexer that provides multiplexing elements with the required scalability. This code-division multiplexer uses compact lithographic modulation elements that simultaneously multiplex both signal outputs and superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) detector bias voltages. It eliminates the shunt resistor used to voltage bias TES detectors, greatly reduces power dissipation, allows different dc bias voltages for each TES, and makes all elements sufficiently compact to fit inside the detector pixel area. These in-focal plane code-division multiplexers can be combined with multi-GHz readout based on superconducting microresonators to scale to even larger arrays.

Microgap gas chamber studies

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-Si:C:H) has been used as an insulating support pedestal for the anode strip in microgap gas chambers (MGCs) in an attempt to make a thicker high quality insulating layer. MGCs having 2.3 or 4.6 /spl mu/m thick a-Si:C:H and 2.0 /spl mu/m thick SiO/sub 2/ insulating layers have been built and tested. In this paper, the results of gas gains, strip damage by discharges, and preliminary aging studies are presented.

The Next Generation BLAST Experiment

The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) was a suborbital experiment designed to map magnetic fields in order to study their role in star formation processes. BLASTPol made detailed polarization maps of a number of molecular clouds during its successful flights from Antarctica in 2010 and 2012. We present the next-generation BLASTPol instrument (BLAST-TNG) that will build off the success of the previous experiment and continue its role as a unique instrument and a test bed for new technologies. With a 16-fold increase in mapping speed, BLAST-TNG will make larger and deeper maps. Major improvements include a 2.5-m carbon fiber mirror that is 40% wider than the BLASTPol mirror and ~3000 polarization sensitive detectors. BLAST-TNG will observe in three bands at 250, 350, and 500 μm. The telescope will serve as a pathfinder project for microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) technology, as applied to feedhorn-coupled submillimeter detector arrays. The liquid helium cooled cryostat will have a 28-day hold time and will utilize a closed-cycle 3He refrigerator to cool the detector arrays to 270 mK. This will enable a detailed mapping of more targets with higher polarization resolution than any other submillimeter experiment to date. BLAST-TNG will also be the first balloon-borne telescope to offer shared risk observing time to the community. This paper outlines the motivation for the project and the instrumental design.

A frequency-domain SQUID multiplexer for arrays of transition-edge superconducting sensors

We describe the development of a frequency-domain multiplexer (MUX) to read out arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES). Fabrication of large-format arrays of these sensors is becoming practical; however, reading out each sensor in the array is a major instrumental challenge. Frequency-domain multiplexing can greatly simplify the instrumentation of large arrays by reducing the number of SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices) and wires to the low temperature stages. Each sensor is AC biased at a different frequency, ranging from 380 kHz to 1 MHz. Each sensor signal amplitude-modulates its respective AC bias frequency. An LC filter associated with each sensor suppresses Johnson noise from the other sensors. The signals are combined at a current summing node and measured by a single SQUID. The individual signals from each sensor are then lock-in detected by room temperature electronics. Test chips with fully lithographed LC filters for up to 32 channels have been designed and fabricated. The capacitance and inductance values have been measured and are close to the design goals. We discuss the basic principles of frequency-domain multiplexing, the design and testing of the test chips, and the implementation of a practical system.