arXiv subjects

A. Miller

Publications and source records attributed to A. Miller.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

A Titanium Nitride Absorber for Controlling Optical Crosstalk in Horn-Coupled Aluminum LEKID Arrays for Millimeter Wavelengths

We discuss the design and measured performance of a titanium nitride (TiN) mesh absorber we are developing for controlling optical crosstalk in horn-coupled lumped-element kinetic inductance detector arrays for millimeter-wavelengths. This absorber was added to the fused silica anti-reflection coating attached to previously-characterized, 20-element prototype arrays of LEKIDs fabricated from thin-film aluminum on silicon substrates. To test the TiN crosstalk absorber, we compared the measured response and noise properties of LEKID arrays with and without the TiN mesh. For this test, the LEKIDs were illuminated with an adjustable, incoherent electronic millimeter-wave source. Our measurements show that the optical crosstalk in the LEKID array with the TiN absorber is reduced by 66\% on average, so the approach is effective and a viable candidate for future kilo-pixel arrays.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Horn-Coupled, Commercially-Fabricated Aluminum Lumped-Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors for Millimeter Wavelengths

We discuss the design, fabrication, and testing of prototype horn-coupled, lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) designed for cosmic microwave background (CMB) studies. The LEKIDs are made from a thin aluminum film deposited on a silicon wafer and patterned using standard photolithographic techniques at STAR Cryoelectronics, a commercial device foundry. We fabricated twenty-element arrays, optimized for a spectral band centered on 150 GHz, to test the sensitivity and yield of the devices as well as the multiplexing scheme. We characterized the detectors in two configurations. First, the detectors were tested in a dark environment with the horn apertures covered, and second, the horn apertures were pointed towards a beam-filling cryogenic blackbody load. These tests show that the multiplexing scheme is robust and scalable, the yield across multiple LEKID arrays is 91%, and the noise-equivalent temperatures (NET) for a 4 K optical load are in the range 26$\thinspace\pm6 \thinspace μ\mbox{K} \sqrt{\mbox{s}}$.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

Inflation Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure

Fluctuations in the intensity and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe each contain clues about the nature of the earliest moments of time. The next generation of CMB and large-scale structure (LSS) experiments are poised to test the leading paradigm for these earliest moments---the theory of cosmic inflation---and to detect the imprints of the inflationary epoch, thereby dramatically increasing our understanding of fundamental physics and the early universe. A future CMB experiment with sufficient angular resolution and frequency coverage that surveys at least 1% of the sky to a depth of 1 uK-arcmin can deliver a constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio that will either result in a 5-sigma measurement of the energy scale of inflation or rule out all large-field inflation models, even in the presence of foregrounds and the gravitational lensing B-mode signal. LSS experiments, particularly spectroscopic surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, will complement the CMB effort by improving current constraints on running of the spectral index by up to a factor of four, improving constraints on curvature by a factor of ten, and providing non-Gaussianity constraints that are competitive with the current CMB bounds.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Neutrino Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure

This is a report on the status and prospects of the quantification of neutrino properties through the cosmological neutrino background for the Cosmic Frontier of the Division of Particles and Fields Community Summer Study long-term planning exercise. Experiments planned and underway are prepared to study the cosmological neutrino background in detail via its influence on distance-redshift relations and the growth of structure. The program for the next decade described in this document, including upcoming spectroscopic galaxy surveys eBOSS and DESI and a new Stage-IV CMB polarization experiment CMB-S4, will achieve sigma(sum m_nu) = 16 meV and sigma(N_eff) = 0.020. Such a mass measurement will produce a high significance detection of non-zero sum m_nu, whose lower bound derived from atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillation data is about 58 meV. If neutrinos have a minimal normal mass hierarchy, this measurement will definitively rule out the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, shedding light on one of the most puzzling aspects of the Standard Model of particle physics --- the origin of mass. This precise a measurement of N_eff will allow for high sensitivity to any light and dark degrees of freedom produced in the big bang and a precision test of the standard cosmological model prediction that N_eff = 3.046.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

The Detector System for the Stratospheric Kinetic Inductance Polarimeter (SKIP)

The Stratospheric Kinetic Inductance Polarimeter (SKIP) is a proposed balloon-borne experiment designed to study the cosmic microwave background, the cosmic infrared background and Galactic dust emission by observing 1133 square degrees of sky in the Northern Hemisphere with launches from Kiruna, Sweden. The instrument contains 2317 single-polarization, horn-coupled, aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKID). The LEKIDs will be maintained at 100 mK with an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The polarimeter operates in two configurations, one sensitive to a spectral band centered on 150 GHz and the other sensitive to 260 and 350 GHz bands. The detector readout system is based on the ROACH-1 board, and the detectors will be biased below 300 MHz. The detector array is fed by an F/2.4 crossed-Dragone telescope with a 500 mm aperture yielding a 15 arcmin FWHM beam at 150 GHz. To minimize detector loading and maximize sensitivity, the entire optical system will be cooled to 1 K. Linearly polarized sky signals will be modulated with a metal-mesh half-wave plate that is mounted at the telescope aperture and rotated by a superconducting magnetic bearing. The observation program consists of at least two, five-day flights beginning with the 150 GHz observations.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

Detection-Loophole-Free Test of Quantum Nonlocality, and Applications

We present a source of entangled photons that violates a Bell inequality free of the "fair-sampling" assumption, by over 7 standard deviations. This violation is the first experiment with photons to close the detection loophole, and we demonstrate enough "efficiency" overhead to eventually perform a fully loophole-free test of local realism. The entanglement quality is verified by maximally violating additional Bell tests, testing the upper limit of quantum correlations. Finally, we use the source to generate secure private quantum random numbers at rates over 4 orders of magnitude beyond previous experiments.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

The Impact of the Spectral Response of an Achromatic Half-Wave Plate on the Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization

We study the impact of the spectral dependence of the linear polarization rotation induced by an achromatic half-wave plate on measurements of cosmic microwave background polarization in the presence of astrophysical foregrounds. We focus on the systematic effects induced on the measurement of inflationary gravitational waves by uncertainties in the polarization and spectral index of Galactic dust. We find that for the experimental configuration and noise levels of the balloon-borne EBEX experiment, which has three frequency bands centered at 150, 250, and 410 GHz, a crude dust subtraction process mitigates systematic effects to below detectable levels for 10% polarized dust and tensor to scalar ratio of as low as r = 0.01. We also study the impact of uncertainties in the spectral response of the instrument. With a top-hat model of the spectral response for each band, characterized by band-center and band-width, and with the same crude dust subtraction process, we find that these parameters need to be determined to within 1 and 0.8 GHz at 150 GHz; 9 and 2.0 GHz at 250 GHz; and 20 and 14 GHz at 410 GHz, respectively. The approach presented in this paper is applicable to other optical elements that exhibit polarization rotation as a function of frequency.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2010

Galaxy Clusters at z>=1: Gas Constraints from the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array

We present gas constraints from Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect measurements in a sample of eleven X-ray and infrared (IR) selected galaxy clusters at z >=1, using data from the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA). The cylindrically integrated Compton-y parameter, Y , is calculated by fitting the data to a two-parameter gas pressure profile. Where possible, we also determine the temperature of the hot intra-cluster plasma from Chandra and XMM-Newton data, and constrain the gas mass within the same aperture (r_2500 ) as Y . The SZ effect is detected in the clusters for which the X-ray data indicate gas masses above ~ 10^13 Msun, including XMMU J2235-2557 at redshift z = 1.39, which to date is one of the most distant clusters detected using the SZ effect. None of the IR-selected targets are detected by the SZA measurements, indicating low gas masses for these objects. For these and the four other undetected clusters, we quote upper limits on Y and Mgas_SZ , with the latter derived from scaling relations calibrated with lower redshift clusters. We compare the constraints on Y and X-ray derived gas mass Mgas_X-ray to self-similar scaling relations between these observables determined from observations of lower redshift clusters, finding consistency given the measurement error.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

CMBPol Mission Concept Study: Prospects for polarized foreground removal

In this report we discuss the impact of polarized foregrounds on a future CMBPol satellite mission. We review our current knowledge of Galactic polarized emission at microwave frequencies, including synchrotron and thermal dust emission. We use existing data and our understanding of the physical behavior of the sources of foreground emission to generate sky templates, and start to assess how well primordial gravitational wave signals can be separated from foreground contaminants for a CMBPol mission. At the estimated foreground minimum of ~100 GHz, the polarized foregrounds are expected to be lower than a primordial polarization signal with tensor-to-scalar ratio r=0.01, in a small patch (~1%) of the sky known to have low Galactic emission. Over 75% of the sky we expect the foreground amplitude to exceed the primordial signal by about a factor of eight at the foreground minimum and on scales of two degrees. Only on the largest scales does the polarized foreground amplitude exceed the primordial signal by a larger factor of about 20. The prospects for detecting an r=0.01 signal including degree-scale measurements appear promising, with 5 sigma_r ~0.003 forecast from multiple methods. A mission that observes a range of scales offers better prospects from the foregrounds perspective than one targeting only the lowest few multipoles. We begin to explore how optimizing the composition of frequency channels in the focal plane can maximize our ability to perform component separation, with a range of typically 40 < nu < 300 GHz preferred for ten channels. Foreground cleaning methods are already in place to tackle a CMBPol mission data set, and further investigation of the optimization and detectability of the primordial signal will be useful for mission design.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2009

Application of a Self-Similar Pressure Profile to Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Data from Galaxy Clusters

We investigate the utility of a new, self-similar pressure profile for fitting Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect observations of galaxy clusters. Current SZ imaging instruments - such as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA) - are capable of probing clusters over a large range in physical scale. A model is therefore required that can accurately describe a cluster's pressure profile over a broad range of radii, from the core of the cluster out to a significant fraction of the virial radius. In the analysis presented here, we fit a radial pressure profile derived from simulations and detailed X-ray analysis of relaxed clusters to SZA observations of three clusters with exceptionally high quality X-ray data: A1835, A1914, and CL J1226.9+3332. From the joint analysis of the SZ and X-ray data, we derive physical properties such as gas mass, total mass, gas fraction and the intrinsic, integrated Compton y-parameter. We find that parameters derived from the joint fit to the SZ and X-ray data agree well with a detailed, independent X-ray-only analysis of the same clusters. In particular, we find that, when combined with X-ray imaging data, this new pressure profile yields an independent electron radial temperature profile that is in good agreement with spectroscopic X-ray measurements.

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arXiv2005

An empirical model for the polarization of pulsar radio emission

We present an empirical model for single pulses of radio emission from pulsars based on gaussian probability distributions for relevant variables. The radiation at a specific pulse phase is represented as the superposition of radiation in two (approximately) orthogonally polarized modes (OPMs) from one or more subsources in the emission region of the pulsar. For each subsource, the polarization states are drawn randomly from statistical distributions, with the mean and the variance on the Poincaré sphere as free parameters. The intensity of one OPM is chosen from a log-normal distribution, and the intensity of the other OPM is assumed to be partially correlated, with the degree of correlation also chosen from a gaussian distribution. The model is used to construct simulated data described in the same format as real data: distributions of the polarization of pulses on the Poincaré sphere and histograms of the intensity and other parameters. We concentrate on the interpretation of data for specific phases of PSR B0329+54 for which the OPMs are not orthogonal, with one well defined and the other spread out around an annulus on the Poincaré sphere at some phases. The results support the assumption that the radiation emerges in two OPMs with closely correlated intensities, and that in a statistical fraction of pulses one OPM is invisible.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2002

Measurement of Arcminute Scale Anisotropy with the BIMA Array

We report the results of our continued study of arcminute scale anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array. The survey consists of ten independent fields selected for low infrared dust emission and lack of bright radio point sources. With observations from the Very Large Array (VLA) at 4.8 GHz, we have identified point sources which could act as contaminants in estimates of the CMB power spectrum and removed them in the analysis. Modeling the observed power spectrum with a single flat band power with average multipole of \ell_{eff}=6864, we find dT=14.2^{+4.8}_{-6.0} μK at 68% confidence. The signal in the visibility data exceeds the expected contribution from instrumental noise with 96.5% confidence. We have also divided the data into two bins corresponding to different spatial resolutions in the power spectrum. We find dT_1=16.6^{+5.3}_{-5.9} μK at 68% confidence for CMB flat band power described by an average multipole of \ell_{eff}=5237 and dT_2<26.5 μK at 95% confidence for \ell_{eff}=8748.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

The QMAP and MAT/TOCO Experiments for Measuring Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background

We describe two related experiments that measured the anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). QMAP was a balloon-borne telescope that flew twice in 1996, collecting data on degree angular scales with an array of six high electron mobility transistor-based amplifiers (HEMTs). QMAP was the first experiment to use an interlocking scan strategy to directly produce high signal-to-noise CMB maps. The QMAP gondola was then refit for ground based work as the MAT/TOCO experiment. Observations were made from 5200 m on Cerro Toco in Northern Chile in 1997 and 1998 using time-domain beam synthesis. MAT/TOCO was the first experiment to see both the rise and fall of the CMB angular spectrum, thereby localizing the position of the first peak to l_{peak}=216 +/- 14. In addition to describing the instruments, we discuss the data selection methods, checks for systematic errors, and we compare the MAT/TOCO results to those from recent experiments. We also correct the data to account for an updated calibration and a small contribution from foreground emission. We find the amplitude of the first peak for l between 160 and 240 to be T_{peak}=80.9 +/- 3.4 +/- 5.1 uK, where the first error is statistical and the second is from calibration.

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