Novel Calibration System with Sparse Wires for CMB Polarization Receivers

Abstract

A curl competent (also known as B-modes) in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization is a smoking gun signature of the inflationary universe. To achieve better sensitivity to this faint signal, CMB polarization experiments aim to maximize the number of detector elements, resulting in a large focal plane receiver. Detector calibration of the polarization response becomes essential. It is extremely useful to be able to calibrate “simultaneously” all detectors on the large focal plane. We developed a novel calibration system that rotates a large “sparse” grid of metal wires, in front of and fully covering the field of view of the focal plane receiver. Polarized radiation is created via the reflection of ambient temperature photons from the wire surface. Since the detector has a finite beam size, the observed signal is convolved with the beam property. The intensity of the of the calibrator is reasonable (a few Kelvin or less) compared to sky temperature for typical observing conditions (∼10 K). The system played a successful role for receiver calibration of QUIET, a CMB polarization experiment located in the Atacama desert in Chile. The successful performance revealed that this system is applicable to other experiments based on different technologies, e.g. TES bolometers.