Polarimeter-on-a-chip - the QUIET Approach to Observing the CMB Polarization with Thousands of Elements
Michael Seiffert
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
michael.seiffert@jpl.nasa.gov
Additional authors: on behalf of the QUIET collaboration
QUIET (the Q/U Imaging ExperimenT) is a CMB polarization experiment that will use our recent breakthrough in millimeter wave packaging to enable thousands of polarimeters at modest cost. Polarimeter modules based on an integrated circuit package with waveguide inputs can be built and tested with fully automated techniques adapted from the semiconductor industry. The initial version of QUIET will consist of two frequency channels, 44 and 90 GHz, with 37 and 91 elements respectively, to provide an order of magnitude sensitivity improvement over WMAP. The QUIET approach is completely scalable, and we can achieve even greater sensitivity with thousands of elements.
