ABS Experiment
Atacama B-mode Search (ABS)
Princeton NIST UBC
The Atacama B-mode Search (ABS) is a new experiment to probe the inflationary epoch in the early universe by measuring the patterns of polarization anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at large angular scales. The polarization of the CMB observed on the celestial sphere can be described with a tensor field. Gravitational waves from inflation, if it occurred, lead to a pseudoscalar component of that tensor field, which is quantified versus angular wavenumber as B-modes [1, 2]. ABS is designed to measure the CMB polarization over a wide frequency band at 145 GHz, using novel detectors optimized for polarization, fabricated at NIST. The detectors are bolometers, based on transition-edge sensors (TES), coupled to feedhorns. ABS features a large focal plane array of detectors illuminated by two ≈ 60 cm mirrors cooled to 4 K. The incoming polarization of the CMB is rotated with a warm half-wave plate (HWP) at the dewar aperture. ABS will make observations at a high-altitude site in the Atacama Desert of Chile.
- Built for rapid deployment to the Atacama Desert, Chile
- Targeted at primordial B-modes
- Designed for minimal foreground contamination
Related Papers
Detector Development Papers
- Characterizing and Modeling the Noise and Complex Impedance of Feedhorn-Coupled TES Polarimeters
- Measurements of Bolometer Uniformity for Feedhorn Coupled TES Polarimeters
- Optical properties of Feedhorn-coupled TES polarimeters for CMB polarimetry
- Progress Toward Corrugated Feed Horn Arrays in Silicon
- Feedhorn-Coupled TES Polarimeters for Next-Generation CMB Instruments
- Corrugated Silicon Platelet Feed Horn Array for CMB Polarimetry at 150 GHz
- Optical Efficiency of Feedhorn-Coupled TES Polarimeters for Next-Generation CMB Instruments
Princeton Participants
- Lyman Page
- Suzanne Staggs
- John Appel
- Lucas Parker
- Silviu Pufu
- Sara Simon
- Katerina Visnjic
- George Che
- Jen Lin
- Gabe Pittelman
- Cheryl Quah
- Nicole Quah