• DOI:10.1051/0004-6361:20065911
• Corpus ID: 16202512

Instrumental and analytic methods for bolometric polarimetry

@article{Jones2006InstrumentalAA,
  title={Instrumental and analytic methods for bolometric polarimetry},
  author={W. C. Jones and Thomas Montroy and Brendan P. Crill and Carlo R. Contaldi and Theodore Kisner and Andrew E. Lange and Carolyn MacTavish and Calvin Barth Netterfield and John E. Ruhl},
  journal={Astronomy and Astrophysics},
  year={2006},
  volume={470},
  pages={771-785}
}

• W. Jones, T. Montroy, +6 authors J. Ruhl
• Published 25 June 2006
• Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics

Aims. We discuss instrumental and analytic methods that have been developed for the first generation of bolometric cosmic microwave background (cmb) polarimeters. The design, characterization, and analysis of data obtained using Polarization Sensitive Bolometers (PSBs) are described in detail. This is followed by a brief study of the effect of various polarization modulation techniques on the recovery of sky polarization from scanning polarimeter data. Methods. Having been successfully implemented on the sub-orbital Boomerang experiment, PSBs are currently operational in two terrestrial cmb polarization experiments (Quad and the Robinson Telescope). We investigate two approaches to the analysis of data from these experiments, using realistic simulations of time ordered data to illustrate the impact of instrumental effects on the fidelity of the recovered polarization signal. Results. We find that the analysis of difference time streams takes full advantage of the high degree of common mode rejection afforded by the PSB design. In addition to the observational efforts currently underway, this discussion is directly applicable to the PSBs that constitute the polarized capability of the Planck HFI instrument.