Abstract
We report the performance of a bolometric system designed to measure the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation on angular scales from 0:°3 to 3°. The system represents a collaborative effort combining a low-background l m diameter balloon-borne telescope with new multimode feed optics, a beam modulation mechanism with high stability, and a four-channel bolometric receiver with passbands centered near frequencies of 3 (90), 6 (180), 9 (270), and 12 (360) cm-1 (GHz). The telescope has been flown three times with the bolometric receiver and has demonstrated detector noise limited performance capable of reaching sensitivity levels of ΔT/TCMB ≈ 10-5 with detectors operated at T = 0.3 K.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 242-252 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Astrophysical Journal |
Volume | 388 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 1 1992 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Cosmic microwave background
- Instrumentation: photometers
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science