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arXiv · 2601.23168

The Simons Observatory: On-sky performance of radio-transparent multi-layer insulation (RT-MLI) using Styroace-II Styrofoam

Samuel Day-Weiss·Nicholas Galitzki·Atsuto Takeuchi·Kam Arnold·Kathleen Harrington·Masaya Hasegawa·Bradley R. Johnson·Akito Kusaka·Aashrita Mangu·Jack Orlowski-Scherer·Lyman A. Page·Yoshinori Sueno·Osamu Tajima·Alex Thomas·Yuhan Wang·Edward J. Wollack·Kyohei Yamada
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Abstract

We present the on-sky performance of a Radio-Transparent Multi-Layer Insulation filter (RT-MLI) that uses Styroace-II styrofoam to reject ambient thermal radiation from entering a 0.42 m diameter aperture to a sub-100 mK bolometric detector array cooled by a dilution-refrigerator. We find that greater than 90% of the expected incident infra-red (IR) radiation is rejected, resulting in $<$12 W of measured transmitted power. Transmitted power in the detector passbands is consistent with a lower bound of 95%. We address filter design and placement, thermal loading, and mm-wave transmission.

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Samuel Day-Weiss, Nicholas Galitzki, Atsuto Takeuchi, Kam Arnold, Kathleen Harrington, Masaya Hasegawa, Bradley R. Johnson, Akito Kusaka, Aashrita Mangu, Jack Orlowski-Scherer, Lyman A. Page, Yoshinori Sueno, Osamu Tajima, Alex Thomas, Yuhan Wang, Edward J. Wollack, Kyohei Yamada. 2026-01-30. The Simons Observatory: On-sky performance of radio-transparent multi-layer insulation (RT-MLI) using Styroace-II Styrofoam. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.585070

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