Yuki Sakurai

Optical designing of LiteBIRD

LiteBIRD aims to detect the footprint of the primordial gravitational wave on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in a form of polarization pattern called B mode. In order to separate CMB from the Galactic emission, our measurements cover 35 GHz to 450 GHz. The LiteBIRD optics consists of two telescopes: a crossed Dragone type for lower frequencies, which provides a compact configuration with a wide field of view, and a refractor type for higher frequencies. The whole optical system is cooled down to around 5 K to minimize the thermal emission. We use two kinds of approaches of designing calculations as well as the experimental confirmation particularly for the lower frequency telescope.

Vibrational characteristics of a superconducting magnetic bearing employed for a prototype polarization modulator

We present the vibrational characteristics of a levitating rotor in a superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB) system operating at below 10 K. We develop a polarization modulator that requires a continuously rotating optical element, called half-wave plate (HWP), for a cosmic microwave background polarization experiment. The HWP has to operate at the temperature below 10 K, and thus an SMB provides a smooth rotation of the HWP at the cryogenic temperature of about 10 K with minimal heat dissipation. In order to understand the potential interference to the cosmological observations due to the vibration of the HWP, it is essential to characterize the vibrational properties of the levitating rotor of the SMB. We constructed a prototype model that consists of an SMB with an array of high temperature superconductors, YBCO, and a permanent magnet ring, NdFeB. The rotor position is monitored by a laser displacement gauge, and a cryogenic Hall sensor via the magnetic field. In this presentation, we present the measurement results of the vibration characteristics using our prototype SMB system. We characterize the vibrational properties as the spring constant and the damping, and discuss the projected performance of this technology toward the use in future space missions.

Trade-off studies on litebird reflectors

The LiteBIRD satellite aims at detecting a signature imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by the primordial gravitational wave predicted in inflation, which is an exponentially expanding era before the hot big bang. The extraction of such weak spiral polarization patterns requires the precise subtraction of our Galaxy’s foreground emission such as the synchrotron and the dust emission. In order to separate them from the CMB by using their spectral shape differences, LiteBIRD covers a wide range of observing frequencies. The main telescope, Low Frequency Telescope (LFT), covers the CMB peak frequencies as well as the synchrotron emission. Based on the required sizes of optical elements in the LFT, an order of one meter, the telescope will consist of reflectors rather than lenses since the latter is limited in size availabilities of the corresponding materials. The image quality analysis provides the requirements of reflector surface shape errors within 30um rms. The requirement on surface roughness of 2μm rms is determined from the reflectance requirement. Based on these requirements, we have carried out tradeoff studies on materials used for reflectors and their support structures. One possibility is to athermalize with aluminum, with the expected thermal contract of 0.4% from room temperature to 4-10 K. Another possibility is CFRP with cyanate resin, which is lighter and has negligibly small thermal contraction. For the reflector surface shape measurements including in low temperature, photogrammetry is a strong candidate with suitable accuracy and dynamic range of measurements.