Search for: All records

Time-division multiplexing is the readout architecture of choice for many ground and space experiments, as it is a very mature technology with proven outstanding low-frequency noise stability, which represents a central challenge in multiplexing. Once fully populated, each of the two BICEP Array high-frequency receivers, observing at 150 GHz and 220/270 GHz, will have 7776 TES detectors tiled on the focal plane. The constraints set by these two receivers required a redesign of the warm readout electronics. The new version of the standard multichannel electronics, developed and built at the University of British Columbia, is presented here for the first time. BICEP Array operates time-division multiplexing readout technology to the limits of its capabilities in terms of multiplexing rate, noise and cross talk, and applies them in rigorously demanding scientific application requiring extreme noise performance and systematic error control. Future experiments like CMB-S4 plan to use TES bolometers with time-division/SQUID-based readout for an even larger number of detectors. 

Abstract We measure the stacked lensing signal in the direction of galaxy clusters in the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 (DES Y3) redMaPPer sample, using cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature data from SPT-3G, the third-generation CMB camera on the South Pole Telescope (SPT). Here, we estimate the lensing signal using temperature maps constructed from the initial 2 years of data from the SPT-3G 'Main' survey, covering 1500 deg²of the Southern sky. We then use this lensing signal as a proxy for the mean cluster mass of the DES sample. The thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) signal, which can contaminate the lensing signal if not addressed, is isolated and removed from the data before obtaining the mass measurement. In this work, we employ three versions of the redMaPPer catalogue: a Flux-Limited sample containing 8865 clusters, a Volume-Limited sample with 5391 clusters, and a Volume&Redshift-Limited sample with 4450 clusters. For the three samples, we detect the CMB lensing signal at a significance of 12.4σ, 10.5σand 10.2σand find the mean cluster masses to be  M_200m= 1.66±0.13 [stat.]± 0.03 [sys.], 1.97±0.18 [stat.]± 0.05 [sys.], and 2.11±0.20 [stat.]± 0.05 [sys.]×10¹⁴M_⊙, respectively. This is a factor of ∼ 2 improvement relative to the precision of measurements with previous generations of SPT surveys and the most constraining cluster mass measurements using CMB cluster lensing to date. Overall, we find no significant tensions between our results and masses given by redMaPPer mass-richness scaling relations of previous works, which were calibrated using CMB cluster lensing, optical weak lensing, and velocity dispersion measurements from various combinations of DES, SDSS and Planck data. We then divide our sample into 3 redshift and 3 richness bins, finding no significant discrepancies with optical weak-lensing calibrated masses in these bins. We forecast a 5.7% constraint on the mean cluster mass of the DES Y3 sample with the complete SPT-3G surveys when using both temperature and polarization data and including an additional ∼ 1400 deg²of observations from the 'Extended' SPT-3G survey. 

The Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP)/Keck (BK) collaboration is currently leading the quest for the highest-sensitivity measurements of the polarized cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies on a degree scale with a series of cryogenic telescopes, of which BICEP Array (BA) is the latest Stage-3 upgrade with a total of ∼ 32,000 detectors. The instrument comprises 4 receivers spanning 30-270 GHz, with the low-frequency 30/40 GHz deployed to the South Pole Station in late 2019. The full complement of receivers is forecast to set the most stringent constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r. Building on these advances, the overarching small-aperture telescope concept is already being used as the reference for further Stage-4 experiment design. This paper describes the development of the BICEP Array 150 GHz detector module and its fabrication requirements, with highlights on the high-density time division multiplexing (TDM) design of the cryogenic circuit boards. The low-impedance wiring required between the detectors and the first stage of superconducting quantum interference device amplifiers is crucial to maintaining a stable bias current on the detectors. A novel multi-layer FR4 Printed Circuit Board with superconducting traces, capable of reading out up to 648 detectors, is detailed along with its validation tests. An ultra-high-density TDM detector module concept we developed for a CMB-S4-like experiment that allows up to 1920 detectors to be read out is also presented. TDM has been chosen as the detector readout technology for the Cosmic Microwave Background Stage-4 (CMB-S4) experiment based on its proven low-noise performance, predictable costs, and overall maturity of the architecture. The heritage for TDM is rooted in mm- and sub-mm-wave experiments dating back 20 years and has since evolved to support a multiplexing factor of 64x in Stage-3 experiments. 

Abstract We present estimates of line-of-sight distortion fields derived from the 95 and 150 GHz data taken by BICEP2, BICEP3, and the Keck Array up to the 2018 observing season, leading to cosmological constraints and a study of instrumental and astrophysical systematics. Cosmological constraints are derived from three of the distortion fields concerning gravitational lensing from large-scale structure, polarization rotation from magnetic fields or an axion-like field, and the screening effect of patchy reionization. We measure an amplitude of the lensing power spectrum $A_L^{\varphi \varphi }=0.95\pm 0.20$. We constrain polarization rotation, expressed as the coupling constant of a Chern–Simons electromagnetic termg_aγ≤ 2.6 × 10⁻²/H_I, whereH_Iis the inflationary Hubble parameter, and an amplitude of primordial magnetic fields smoothed over 1 MpcB_1Mpc≤ 6.6 nG at 95 GHz. We constrain the rms of optical depth fluctuations in a simple “crinkly surface” model of patchy reionization, findingA^τ< 0.19 (2σ) for the coherence scale ofL_c= 100. We show that all of the distortion fields of the 95 and 150 GHz polarization maps are consistent with simulations including lensed ΛCDM, dust, and noise, with no evidence for instrumental systematics. In some cases, theEBandTBquadratic estimators presented here are more sensitive than our previous map-based null tests at identifying and rejecting spuriousB-modes that might arise from instrumental effects. Finally, we verify that the standard deprojection filtering in the BICEP/Keck data processing is effective at removing temperature to polarization leakage. 

Abstract We characterize Galactic dust filaments by correlating BICEP/Keck and Planck data with polarization templates based on neutral hydrogen (Hi) observations. Dust polarization is important for both our understanding of astrophysical processes in the interstellar medium (ISM) and the search for primordial gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In the diffuse ISM, Hiis strongly correlated with the dust and partly organized into filaments that are aligned with the local magnetic field. We analyze the deep BICEP/Keck data at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, over the low-column-density region of sky where BICEP/Keck has set the best limits on primordial gravitational waves. We separate the Hiemission into distinct velocity components and detect dust polarization correlated with the local Galactic Hibut not with the Hiassociated with Magellanic Streami. We present a robust, multifrequency detection of polarized dust emission correlated with the filamentary Himorphology template down to 95 GHz. For assessing its utility for foreground cleaning, we report that the Himorphology template correlates inBmodes at a ∼10%–65% level over the multipole range 20 <ℓ< 200 with the BICEP/Keck maps, which contain contributions from dust, CMB, and noise components. We measure the spectral index of the filamentary dust component spectral energy distribution to beβ= 1.54 ± 0.13. We find no evidence for decorrelation in this region between the filaments and the rest of the dust field or from the inclusion of dust associated with the intermediate velocity Hi. Finally, we explore the morphological parameter space in the Hi-based filamentary model.