BICEP: B ackground I maging of C osmic E xtragalactic P olarization “The Muscle Behind Curls” Jamie Bock Hien Nguyen Caltech/JPL Andrew Lange Brian Keating Ki Won Yoon Eric Hivon Cynthia Chiang Bill Holzapfel Yuki Takihashi U.C. Berkeley Peter Ade U. Cardiff

The Challenge of CMB Polarimetry What do we need? Significant advance system sensitivity Control systematic errors at < 0.1  K levels Distinguish CMB from Galactic Foregrounds Distinguish Gravity-wave Signal from Lensing BICEP QUEST

BICEP A uniquely powerful probe for curl modes – key to understanding the physics of inflation ~100 times faster mapping speed than current experiments (e.g. BOOMERANG) 8” aperture refractor Minimal Systematics Technological Precursor for NASA “Beyond Einstein” Mission CMBPOL

Instrument The first pair of PSBs ~20 cm primary aperture Refractive wide-field optics ~20  FOV 0.7  (150 GHz) and 1.0  (100 GHz) resolutions 48 feeds / 96 polarization- sensitive bolometers at 250 mK South Pole site: great atmosphere, low foregrounds & conducive to deep integrations

BICEP is a large Cryostat. Refracting optics cooled to 4K Uses both LN2 and LHe with a four day hold time. Detectors cooled to 250 mK

BICEP will be housed in the renovated Penthouse of the Dark Sector Lab

BICEP is an Experiment- Not a Facility BICEP will deploy in December 2004 BICEP will need to observe for three seasons in order to reach its scientific goals. At the end of this time, the telescope will be removed.

Major Support Requirements Facilities: Modification of DSL penthouse for BICEP mount Temporary Summer Laboratory Space Cryogenics: Liquid Nitrogen 20 liters/day, Liquid Helium 17 liters/day Power: ~15 KW Data Transmission: ~2GB/day

Critical Schedule Dates Laboratory Space: becomes available 11/22/04 DSL Modifications: complete 12/4/04 Mount installation: 12/7/04 Receiver installation: 12/22/04 Telescope Operations Begin: 1/14/05 Condition occupancy of DSL was not scheduled until 1/1/05. This presented a significant challenge to this “success oriented” schedule. – as of today, problem solved

+Gravity Waves Div, Grad, Curl and All That 20° E. Hivon

Polarization-Selective Focal plane The BICEP Instrument Low emissivity window (  < 3 %) 8” aperture! LN 2 /LHe Cryostat with ~4 day hold time Refracting 4 K telescope 0.3 K fridge