280 GHz Focal Plane Unit Design and Characterization for the SPIDER-2 Suborbital Polarimeter
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We describe the construction and characterization of the 280 GHz bolometric focal plane units (FPUs) to be deployed on the second flight of the balloon-borne SPIDER instrument. These FPUs are vital to SPIDER's primary science goal of detecting or placing an upper limit on the amplitude of the primordial gravitational wave signature in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) by constraining the B-mode contamination in the CMB from Galactic dust emission. Each 280 GHz focal plane contains a 16 x 16 grid of corrugated silicon feedhorns coupled to an array of aluminum-manganese transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers fabricated on 150 mm diameter substrates. In total, the three 280 GHz FPUs contain 1,530 polarization sensitive bolometers (765 spatial pixels) optimized for the low loading environment in flight and read out by time-division SQUID multiplexing. In this paper we describe the mechanical, thermal, and magnetic shielding architecture of the focal planes and present cryogenic measurements which characterize yield and the uniformity of several bolometer parameters. The assembled FPUs have high yields, with one array as high as 95% including defects from wiring and readout. We demonstrate high uniformity in device parameters, finding the median saturation power for each TES array to be ~3 pW at 300 mK with a less than 6% variation across each array at one standard deviation. These focal planes will be deployed alongside the 95 and 150 GHz telescopes in the SPIDER-2 instrument, slated to fly from McMurdo Station in Antarctica in December 2018.
Date Issued
2018-12-01
Date Acceptance
2018-08-29
Citation
JOURNAL OF LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS, 2018, 193 (5-6), pp.1075-1084
ISSN
0022-2291
Publisher
SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS
Start Page
1075
End Page
1084
Journal / Book Title
JOURNAL OF LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS
Volume
193
Issue
5-6
Copyright Statement
© The Authors
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000451734500056&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
ST/L00044X/1
ST-N000838
ST/N000838/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Physics, Applied
Physics, Condensed Matter
Physics
Detector packaging
Magnetic shielding
Transition-edge sensors
Scientific ballooning
Cosmic microwave background
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-09-12