arXiv subjects

Akito Kusaka

Publications and source records attributed to Akito Kusaka.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

The Simons Observatory: Instrument Overview

The Simons Observatory (SO) will make precise temperature and polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using a set of telescopes which will cover angular scales between 1 arcminute and tens of degrees, contain over 60,000 detectors, and observe at frequencies between 27 and 270 GHz. SO will consist of a 6 m aperture telescope coupled to over 30,000 transition-edge sensor bolometers along with three 42 cm aperture refractive telescopes, coupled to an additional 30,000+ detectors, all of which will be located in the Atacama Desert at an altitude of 5190 m. The powerful combination of large and small apertures in a CMB observatory will allow us to sample a wide range of angular scales over a common survey area. SO will measure fundamental cosmological parameters of our universe, constrain primordial fluctuations, find high redshift clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel`dovich effect, constrain properties of neutrinos, and trace the density and velocity of the matter in the universe over cosmic time. The complex set of technical and science requirements for this experiment has led to innovative instrumentation solutions which we will discuss. The large aperture telescope will couple to a cryogenic receiver that is 2.4 m in diameter and nearly 3 m long, creating a number of technical challenges. Concurrently, we are designing the array of cryogenic receivers housing the 42 cm aperture telescopes. We will discuss the sensor technology SO will use and we will give an overview of the drivers for and designs of the SO telescopes and receivers, with their cold optical components and detector arrays.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

A large-diameter cryogenic rotation stage for half-wave plate polarization modulation on the POLARBEAR-2 experiment

We describe the design of a cryogenic rotation stage (CRS) for use with the cryogenic half-wave plate (CHWP) polarization modulator on the POLARBEAR-2b and POLARBEAR-2c (PB2b/c) cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments, the second and third installments of the Simons Array. Rapid modulation of the CMB polarization signal using a CHWP suppresses 1/f contamination due to atmospheric turbulence and allows a single polarimeter to measure both polarization states, mitigating systematic effects that arise when differencing orthogonal detectors. To modulate the full detector array while avoiding excess photon loading due to thermal emission, the CHWP must have a clear-aperture diameter of > 450 mm and be cooled to < 100 K. We have designed a 454-mm-clear-aperture, < 65 K CRS using a superconducting magnetic bearing driven by a synchronous magnetic motor. We present the specifications for the CRS, its interfacing to the PB2b/c receiver cryostat, its performance in a stand-alone test, and plans for future work.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Quantum Sensing for High Energy Physics

Report of the first workshop to identify approaches and techniques in the domain of quantum sensing that can be utilized by future High Energy Physics applications to further the scientific goals of High Energy Physics.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Commercialization of micro-fabrication of antenna-coupled Transition Edge Sensor bolometer detectors for studies of the Cosmic Microwave Background

We report on the development of commercially fabricated multi-chroic antenna coupled Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimetry experiments. CMB polarimetry experiments have deployed instruments in stages. Stage-II experiments deployed with O(1,000) detectors and reported successful detection of B-mode (divergent free) polarization pattern in the CMB. Stage-III experiments have recently started observing with O(10,000) detectors with wider frequency coverage. A concept for a Stage-IV experiment, CMB-S4, is emerging to make a definitive measurement of CMB polarization from the ground with O(400,000) detectors. The orders of magnitude increase in detector count for CMB-S4 requires a new approach in detector fabrication to increase fabrication throughput.and reduce cost. We report on collaborative efforts with two commercial micro-fabrication foundries to fabricate antenna coupled TES bolometer detectors. The detector design is based on the sinuous antenna coupled dichroic detector from the POLARBEAR-2 experiment. The TES bolometers showed the expected I-V response and the RF performance agrees with simulation. We will discuss the motivation, design consideration, fabrication processes, test results, and how industrial detector fabrication could be a path to fabricate hundreds of detector wafers for future CMB polarimetry experiments.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

Results from the Atacama B-mode Search (ABS) Experiment

The Atacama B-mode Search (ABS) is an experiment designed to measure cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization at large angular scales ($\ell>40$). It operated from the ACT site at 5190~m elevation in northern Chile at 145 GHz with a net sensitivity (NEQ) of 41 $μ$K$\sqrt{\rm s}$. It employed an ambient-temperature sapphire half-wave plate rotating at 2.55 Hz to modulate the incident polarization signal and reduce systematic effects. We report here on the analysis of data from a 2400 deg$^2$ patch of sky centered at declination $-42^\circ$ and right ascension $25^\circ$. We perform a blind analysis. After unblinding, we find agreement with the Planck TE and EE measurements on the same region of sky. We marginally detect polarized dust emission and give an upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of $r<2.3$ (95% cl) with the equivalent of 100 on-sky days of observation. We also present a new measurement of the polarization of Tau A and introduce new methods associated with HWP-based observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

CMB-S4 Technology Book, First Edition

CMB-S4 is a proposed experiment to map the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) to nearly the cosmic variance limit for angular scales that are accessible from the ground. The science goals and capabilities of CMB-S4 in illuminating cosmic inflation, measuring the sum of neutrino masses, searching for relativistic relics in the early universe, characterizing dark energy and dark matter, and mapping the matter distribution in the universe have been described in the CMB-S4 Science Book. This Technology Book is a companion volume to the Science Book. The ambitious science goals of CMB-S4, a "Stage-4" experiment, require a step forward in experimental capability from the current Stage=II experiments. To guide this process, we summarize the current state of CMB instrumentation technology, and identify R&D efforts necessary to advance it for use in CMB-S4. The book focuses on technical challenges in four broad areas: Telescope Design; Receiver Optics; Focal-Plane Optical Coupling; and Focal-Plane Sensor and Readout.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

Optimization Study for the Experimental Configuration of CMB-S4

The CMB Stage 4 (CMB-S4) experiment is a next-generation, ground-based experiment that will measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization to unprecedented accuracy, probing the signature of inflation, the nature of cosmic neutrinos, relativistic thermal relics in the early universe, and the evolution of the universe. To advance the progress towards designing the instrument for CMB-S4, we have established a framework to optimize the instrumental configuration to maximize its scientific output. In this paper, we report our first results from this framework, using simplified instrumental and cost models. We have primarily studied two classes of instrumental configurations: arrays of large aperture telescopes with diameters ranging from 2-10 m, and hybrid arrays that combine small-aperture telescopes (0.5 m diameter) with large-aperture telescopes. We explore performance as a function of the telescope aperture size, the distribution of the detectors into different microwave frequencies, the survey strategy and survey area, the low-frequency noise performance, and the balance between small and large aperture telescopes for the hybrid configurations. We also examine the impact from the uncertainties of the instrumental model. There are several areas that deserve further improvement. In our forecasting framework, we adopt a simple two-component foregrounds model with spacially varying power-law spectral indices. We estimate delensing performance statistically and ignore possible non-idealities. Instrumental systematics, which is not accounted for in our study, may influence the design. Further study of the instrumental and cost models will be one of the main areas of study by the whole CMB-S4 community. We hope that our framework will be useful for estimating the influence of these improvement in future, and we will incorporate them in order to improve the optimization further.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2017

Performance of a continuously rotating half-wave plate on the POLARBEAR telescope

A continuously rotating half-wave plate (CRHWP) is a promising tool to improve the sensitivity to large angular scales in cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization measurements. With a CRHWP, single detectors can measure three of the Stokes parameters, $I$, $Q$ and $U$, thereby avoiding the set of systematic errors that can be introduced by mismatches in the properties of orthogonal detector pairs. We focus on the implementation of CRHWPs in large aperture telescopes (i.e. the primary mirror is larger than the current maximum half-wave plate diameter of $\sim$0.5 m), where the CRHWP can be placed between the primary mirror and focal plane. In this configuration, one needs to address the intensity to polarization ($I{\rightarrow}P$) leakage of the optics, which becomes a source of 1/f noise and also causes differential gain systematics that arise from CMB temperature fluctuations. In this paper, we present the performance of a CRHWP installed in the POLARBEAR experiment, which employs a Gregorian telescope with a 2.5 m primary illumination pattern. The CRHWP is placed near the prime focus between the primary and secondary mirrors. We find that the $I{\rightarrow}P$ leakage is larger than the expectation from the physical properties of our primary mirror, resulting in a 1/f knee of 100 mHz. The excess leakage could be due to imperfections in the detector system, i.e. detector non-linearity in the responsivity and time-constant. We demonstrate, however, that by subtracting the leakage correlated with the intensity signal, the 1/f noise knee frequency is reduced to 32 mHz ($\ell \sim$39 for our scan strategy), which is very promising to probe the primordial B-mode signal. We also discuss methods for further noise subtraction in future projects where the precise temperature control of instrumental components and the leakage reduction will play a key role.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Making maps of Cosmic Microwave Background polarization for B-mode studies: the POLARBEAR example

Analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) datasets typically requires some filtering of the raw time-ordered data. Filtering is frequently used to minimize the impact of low frequency noise, atmospheric contributions and/or scan synchronous signals on the resulting maps. In this work we explicitly construct a general filtering operator, which can unambiguously remove any set of unwanted modes in the data, and then amend the map-making procedure in order to incorporate and correct for it. We show that such an approach is mathematically equivalent to the solution of a problem in which the sky signal and unwanted modes are estimated simultaneously and the latter are marginalized over. We investigate the conditions under which this amended map-making procedure can render an unbiased estimate of the sky signal in realistic circumstances. We then study the effects of time-domain filtering on the noise correlation structure in the map domain, as well as impact it may have on the performance of the popular pseudo-spectrum estimators. We conclude that although maps produced by the proposed estimators arguably provide the most faithful representation of the sky possible given the data, they may not straightforwardly lead to the best constraints on the power spectra of the underlying sky signal and special care may need to be taken to ensure this is the case. By contrast, simplified map-makers which do not explicitly correct for time-domain filtering, but leave it to subsequent steps in the data analysis, may perform equally well and be easier and faster to implement. We focus on polarization-sensitive measurements targeting the B-mode component of the CMB signal and apply the proposed methods to realistic simulations based on characteristics of an actual CMB polarization experiment, POLARBEAR.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

CMB-S4 Science Book, First Edition

This book lays out the scientific goals to be addressed by the next-generation ground-based cosmic microwave background experiment, CMB-S4, envisioned to consist of dedicated telescopes at the South Pole, the high Chilean Atacama plateau and possibly a northern hemisphere site, all equipped with new superconducting cameras. CMB-S4 will dramatically advance cosmological studies by crossing critical thresholds in the search for the B-mode polarization signature of primordial gravitational waves, in the determination of the number and masses of the neutrinos, in the search for evidence of new light relics, in constraining the nature of dark energy, and in testing general relativity on large scales.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2016

Design and development of an ambient-temperature continuously-rotating achromatic half-wave plate for CMB polarization modulation on the POLARBEAR-2 experiment

We describe the development of an ambient-temperature continuously-rotating half-wave plate (HWP) for study of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization by the POLARBEAR-2 (PB2) experiment. Rapid polarization modulation suppresses 1/f noise due to unpolarized atmospheric turbulence and improves sensitivity to degree-angular-scale CMB fluctuations where the inflationary gravitational wave signal is thought to exist. A HWP modulator rotates the input polarization signal and therefore allows a single polarimeter to measure both linear polarization states, eliminating systematic errors associated with differencing of orthogonal detectors. PB2 projects a 365-mm-diameter focal plane of 7,588 dichroic, 95/150 GHz transition-edge-sensor bolometers onto a 4-degree field of view that scans the sky at $\sim$ 1 degree per second. We find that a 500-mm-diameter ambient-temperature sapphire achromatic HWP rotating at 2 Hz is a suitable polarization modulator for PB2. We present the design considerations for the PB2 HWP, the construction of the HWP optical stack and rotation mechanism, and the performance of the fully-assembled HWP instrument. We conclude with a discussion of HWP polarization modulation for future Simons Array receivers.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

POLARBEAR Constraints on Cosmic Birefringence and Primordial Magnetic Fields

We constrain anisotropic cosmic birefringence using four-point correlations of even-parity $E$-mode and odd-parity $B$-mode polarization in the cosmic microwave background measurements made by the POLARization of the Background Radiation (POLARBEAR) experiment in its first season of observations. We find that the anisotropic cosmic birefringence signal from any parity-violating processes is consistent with zero. The Faraday rotation from anisotropic cosmic birefringence can be compared with the equivalent quantity generated by primordial magnetic fields if they existed. The POLARBEAR nondetection translates into a 95% confidence level (C.L.) upper limit of 93 nanogauss (nG) on the amplitude of an equivalent primordial magnetic field inclusive of systematic uncertainties. This four-point correlation constraint on Faraday rotation is about 15 times tighter than the upper limit of 1380 nG inferred from constraining the contribution of Faraday rotation to two-point correlations of $B$-modes measured by Planck in 2015. Metric perturbations sourced by primordial magnetic fields would also contribute to the $B$-mode power spectrum. Using the POLARBEAR measurements of the $B$-mode power spectrum (two-point correlation), we set a 95% C.L. upper limit of 3.9 nG on primordial magnetic fields assuming a flat prior on the field amplitude. This limit is comparable to what was found in the Planck 2015 two-point correlation analysis with both temperature and polarization. We perform a set of systematic error tests and find no evidence for contamination. This work marks the first time that anisotropic cosmic birefringence or primordial magnetic fields have been constrained from the ground at subdegree scales.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

Angular and Polarization Response of Multimode Sensors with Resistive-Grid Absorbers

High sensitivity receiver systems with near ideal polarization sensitivity are highly desirable for development of millimeter and sub-millimeter radio astronomy. Multimoded bolometers provide a unique solution to achieve such sensitivity, for which hundreds of single-mode sensors would otherwise be required. The primary concern in employing such multimoded sensors for polarimetery is the control of the polarization systematics. In this paper, we examine the angular- and polarization- dependent absorption pattern of a thin resistive grid or membrane, which models an absorber used for a multimoded bolometer. The result shows that a freestanding thin resistive absorber with a surface resistivity of η/2, where η is the impedance of free space, attains a beam pattern with equal E- and H-plane responses, leading to zero cross polarization. For a resistive-grid absorber, the condition is met when a pair of grids is positioned orthogonal to each other and both have a resistivity of η/2. When a reflective backshort termination is employed to improve absorption efficiency, the cross-polar level can be suppressed below -30 dB if acceptance angle of the sensor is limited to <60degrees. The small cross-polar systematics have even-parity patterns and do not contaminate the measurements of odd-parity polarization patterns, for which many of recent instruments for cosmic microwave background are designed. Underlying symmetry that suppresses these cross-polar systematics is discussed in detail. The estimates and formalism provided in this paper offer key tools in the design consideration of the instruments using the multimoded polarimeters.

astro-ph.IM↗