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arXiv · 2601.03925

Polarization rotation through differential transmission in refractive CMB telescopes identified using a hybrid physical optics method

Xiaodong Ren·Rustam Balafendiev·Jon E. Gudmundsson
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Abstract

We identify a polarization rotation systematic in the far field beams of refractive cosmic microwave background (CMB) telescopes caused by differential transmission in anti-reflection (AR) coatings of optical elements. This systematic was identified following the development of a hybrid physical optics method that incorporates full-wave electromagnetic simulations of AR coatings to model the full polarization response of refractive systems. Applying this method to a two-lens CMB telescope with non-ideal AR coating, we show that polarization-dependent transmission can produce a rotation of the far-field polarization angle that varies across the focal plane with a typical amplitude of 0.05-0.5 degrees. If ignored in analysis, this effect can produce temperature to polarization leakage and Stokes Q/U mixing.

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Xiaodong Ren, Rustam Balafendiev, Jon E. Gudmundsson. 2026-01-07. Polarization rotation through differential transmission in refractive CMB telescopes identified using a hybrid physical optics method. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.03925

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