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 ManiPhilip 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

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

7 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X
EditorsJonas Zmuidzinas, Jian-Rong Gao
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9781510636934
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020
EventMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X 2020 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: Dec 14 2020Dec 22 2020

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume11453
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferenceMillimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy X 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period12/14/2012/22/20

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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