Characterization, deployment, and in-flight performance of the BLAST-TNG cryogenic receiver

Ian Lowe; Peter A. R. Ade; Peter C. Ashton; Jason E. Austermann; Gabriele Coppi; Erin G. Cox; Mark J. Devlin; Bradley J. Dober; Valentina Fanfani; Laura M. Fissel; Nicholas Galitzki; Jiansong Gao; Samuel Gordon; Christopher E. Groppi; Gene C. Hilton; Johannes Hubmayr; Jeffrey Klein; Dale Li; Nathan P. Lourie; Hamdi Mani; Philip Mauskopf; Christopher McKenney; Federico Nati; Giles Novak; Giampaolo Pisano; Javier Romualdez; Juan D. Soler; Adrian Sinclair; Carole Tucker; Joel Ullom; Michael Vissers; Caleb Wheeler; Paul A. Williams

doi:10.1117/12.2560854

13 December 2020 Characterization, deployment, and in-flight performance of the BLAST-TNG cryogenic receiver

Ian Lowe, Peter A. R. Ade, Peter C. Ashton, Jason E. Austermann, Gabriele Coppi, Erin G. Cox, Mark J. Devlin, Bradley J. Dober, Valentina Fanfani, Laura M. Fissel, Nicholas Galitzki, Jiansong Gao, Samuel Gordon, Christopher E. Groppi, Gene C. Hilton, Johannes Hubmayr, Jeffrey Klein, Dale Li, Nathan P. Lourie, Hamdi Mani, Philip Mauskopf, Christopher McKenney, Federico Nati, Giles Novak, Giampaolo Pisano, Javier Romualdez, Juan D. Soler, Adrian Sinclair, Carole Tucker, Joel Ullom, Michael Vissers, Caleb Wheeler, Paul A. Williams

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11453, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X; 1145304 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2560854
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter polarimeter designed to map interstellar dust and galactic foregrounds at 250, 350, and 500 microns during a 24-day Antarctic flight. The BLAST-TNG detector arrays are comprised of 918, 469, and 272 MKID pixels, respectively. The pixels are formed from two orthogonally oriented, crossed, linear-polarization sensitive MKID antennae. The arrays are cooled to sub 300 mK temperatures and stabilized via a closed cycle ³He sorption fridge in combination with a ⁴He vacuum pot. The detectors are read out through a combination of the second-generation Reconfigurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware (ROACH2) and custom RF electronics designed for BLAST-TNG. The firmware and software designed to readout and characterize these detectors was built from scratch by the BLAST team around these detectors, and has been adapted for use by other MKID instruments such as TolTEC and OLIMPO.1 We present an overview of these systems as well as in-depth methodology of the ground-based characterization and the measured in-flight performance.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Ian Lowe, Peter A. R. Ade, Peter C. Ashton, Jason E. Austermann, Gabriele Coppi, Erin G. Cox, Mark J. Devlin, Bradley J. Dober, Valentina Fanfani, Laura M. Fissel, Nicholas Galitzki, Jiansong Gao, Samuel Gordon, Christopher E. Groppi, Gene C. Hilton, Johannes Hubmayr, Jeffrey Klein, Dale Li, Nathan P. Lourie, Hamdi Mani, Philip Mauskopf, Christopher McKenney, Federico Nati, Giles Novak, Giampaolo Pisano, Javier Romualdez, Juan D. Soler, Adrian Sinclair, Carole Tucker, Joel Ullom, Michael Vissers, Caleb Wheeler, and Paul A. Williams "Characterization, deployment, and in-flight performance of the BLAST-TNG cryogenic receiver", Proc. SPIE 11453, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X, 1145304 (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2560854

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available