Victor Haynes

QUBIC: The QU Bolometric Interferometer For Cosmology

The primordial B-mode polarisation of the Cosmic Microwave Background is the imprints of the gravitational wave background generated by inflation. Observing the B-mode is up to now the most direct way to constrain the physics of the primordial Universe, especially inflation. To detect these B-modes, high sensitivity is required as well as an exquisite control of systematics effects. To comply with these requirements, we propose a new instrument called QUBIC (Q and U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology) based on bolometric interferometry. The control of systematics is obtained with a close-packed interferometer while bolometers cooled to very low temperature allow for high sensitivity. We present the architecture of this new instrument, the status of the project and the self-calibration technique which allows accurate measurement of the instrumental systematic effects.

The Large-Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE)

The LSPE is a balloon-borne mission aimed at measuring the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at large angular scales, and in particular to constrain the curl component of CMB polarization (B-modes) produced by tensor perturbations generated during cosmic inflation, in the very early universe. Its primary target is to improve the limit on the ratio of tensor to scalar perturbations amplitudes down to r = 0.03, at 99.7% confidence. A second target is to produce wide maps of foreground polarization generated in our Galaxy by synchrotron emission and interstellar dust emission. These will be important to map Galactic magnetic fields and to study the properties of ionized gas and of diffuse interstellar dust in our Galaxy. The mission is optimized for large angular scales, with coarse angular resolution (around 1.5 degrees FWHM), and wide sky coverage (25% of the sky). The payload will fly in a circumpolar long duration balloon mission during the polar night. Using the Earth as a giant solar shield, the instrument will spin in azimuth, observing a large fraction of the northern sky. The payload will host two instruments. An array of coherent polarimeters using cryogenic HEMT amplifiers will survey the sky at 43 and 90 GHz. An array of bolometric polarimeters, using large throughput multi-mode bolometers and rotating Half Wave Plates (HWP), will survey the same sky region in three bands at 95, 145 and 245 GHz. The wide frequency coverage will allow optimal control of the polarized foregrounds, with comparable angular resolution at all frequencies.

SWIPE: a bolometric polarimeter for the Large-Scale Polarization Explorer

The balloon-borne LSPE mission is optimized to measure the linear polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background at large angular scales. The Short Wavelength Instrument for the Polarization Explorer (SWIPE) is composed of 3 arrays of multi-mode bolometers cooled at 0.3K , with optical components and filters cryogenically cooled below 4K to reduce the background on the detectors. Polarimetry is achieved by means of large rotating half-wave plates and wire-grid polarizers in front of the arrays. The polarization modulator is the first component of the optical chain, reducing significantly the effect of instrumental polarization. In SWIPE we trade angular resolution for sensitivity. The diameter of the entrance pupil of the refractive telescope is 45 cm, while the field optics is optimized to collect tens of modes for each detector, thus boosting the absorbed power. This approach results in a FWHM resolution of 1.8, 1.5, 1.2 degrees at 95, 145, 245 GHz respectively. The expected performance of the three channels is limited by photon noise, resulting in a final sensitivity around 0.1-0.2 μK per beam, for a 13 days survey covering 25% of the sky.

Polarization modulators for CMBPol

We review a number of technologies that are candidates for active polarization modulators for CMBPol. The technologies are appropriate for instruments that use bolometric detectors and include birefringent crystal-based and metal-mesh-based half-wave plates, variable phase polarization modulator, Faraday rotator, and photolithographed modulators. We also give a current account of the status of millimeter-wave orthomode transducers.

Development of large radii half-wave plates for CMB satellite missions

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.

A BROADBAND METAL-MESH HALF-WAVE PLATE FOR MILLIMETRE WAVE LINEAR POLARISATION ROTATION

We present a polarisation rotator based on a dielectrically embedded metal Mesh Half Wave Plate (MHWP) working in the W- band frequency range (75{110GHz). The device was realised using metallic grids with sub-wavelength anisotropic geometries able to mimic the behaviour of natural birefringent materials. The device was designed using a combination of transmission line codes and flnite- element analysis able to achieve phase accuracy down to a fraction of degree. Very accurate intensity and phase measurements were carried out using coherent radiation from a Vector Network Analyser (VNA). The presented device performs better and it is much thinner than previous devices having reduced the number of grids by a factor two and minimised their inductive losses. The new mesh HWP has excellent performances in terms of difierential phase-shift ∞atness and cross-polarisation respectively 180:4 § 2:9 - and i28dB across a 25% bandwidth.

Latest Progress on the QUBIC Instrument

QUBIC is a unique instrument that crosses the barriers between classical imaging architectures and interferometry taking advantage from both high sensitivity and systematics mitigation. The scientific target is to detect primordial gravitational waves created by inflation by the polarization they imprint on the cosmic microwave background—the holy grail of modern cosmology. In this paper, we show the latest advances in the development of the architecture and the sub-systems of the first module of this instrument to be deployed at Dome Charlie Concordia base—Antarctica in 2015.

Dielectrically embedded mesh half wave plate beam impact studies

An alternative solution to classic birefringent Half Wave Plates (HWP), based on the photolithographic techniques, has been recently developed. This new device can offer a very good alternative as a polarisation modulator for future CMB polarisation instruments. However, the systematic effects that this HWP will introduce in the overall instrument need to be investigated. We present a preliminary study of the impact of this dielectrically embedded HWP on the beam shape of a corrugated horn and its performance across the beam. Using a W-band Vector Network Analyser, we measured the co- and crosspolarisation beams of the HWP-horn system and the differential phase-shift introduced by the HWP across the beam.

The CℓOVER experiment

CℓOVER is a multi-frequency experiment optimised to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization, in particular the B-mode component. CℓOVER comprises two instruments observing respectively at 97 GHz and 150/225 GHz. The focal plane of both instruments consists of an array of corrugated feed-horns coupled to TES detectors cooled at 100 mK. The primary science goal of CℓOVER is to be sensitive to gravitational waves down to r ~ 0.03 (at 3σ)in two years of operations.ClOVER is a multi-frequency experiment optimised to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization, in particular the B-mode component. ClOVER comprises two instruments observing respectively at 97 GHz and 150/225 GHz. The focal plane of both instruments consists of an array of corrugated feed-horns coupled to TES detectors cooled at 100 mK. The primary science goal of ClOVER is to be sensitive to gravitational waves down to r similar to 0.03 (at 3 sigma) in two years of operations.

A negative refractive index metamaterial wave plate for millimetre-wave applications

By use of a metamaterial based on the ‘cut wire pair’ geometry, highly birefringent wave plates may be constructed by virtue of the geometry’s ability of having a negative and positive refractive index along its perpendicular axes. Past implementations have been narrow band in nature due to the reliance on producing a resonance to achieve a negative refractive index band and the steep gradient in the phase difference that results. In this paper we attempt to design and manufacture a W-band quarter wave plate embedded in polypropylene that applies the Pancharatnam method to increase the useable bandwidth. Our modelling demonstrates that a broadening of the phase difference’s bandwidth defined as the region 90° ± 2° is possible from 0.6% (101.7 GHz – 102.3 GHz) to 7.8% (86.2 GHz – 93.1 GHz). Our experimental results show some agreement with our modelling but differ at higher frequencies.