109 research outputs found
Direct-Current Induced Dynamics in Co90Fe10/Ni80Fe20 Point Contacts
We have directly measured coherent high-frequency magnetization dynamics in
ferromagnet films induced by a spin-polarized DC current. The precession
frequency can be tuned over a range of several gigahertz, by varying the
applied current. The frequencies of excitation also vary with applied field,
resulting in a microwave oscillator that can be tuned from below 5 GHz to above
40 GHz. This novel method of inducing high-frequency dynamics yields
oscillations having quality factors from 200 to 800. We compare our results
with those from single-domain simulations of current-induced dynamics
Large-Aperture Wide-Bandwidth Anti-Reflection-Coated Silicon Lenses for Millimeter Wavelengths
The increasing scale of cryogenic detector arrays for sub-millimeter and millimeter wavelength astrophysics has led to the need for large aperture, high index of refraction, low loss, cryogenic refracting optics. Silicon with n = 3.4, low loss, and relatively high thermal conductivity is a nearly optimal material for these purposes, but requires an antireflection (AR) coating with broad bandwidth, low loss, low reflectance, and a matched coffecient of thermal expansion. We present an AR coating for curved silicon optics comprised of subwavelength features cut into the lens surface with a custom three axis silicon dicing saw. These features constitute a metamaterial that behaves as a simple dielectric coating. We have fabricated and coated silicon lenses as large as 33.4 cm in diameter with coatings optimized for use between 125-165 GHz. Our design reduces average reflections to a few tenths of a percent for angles of incidence up to 30 deg. with low cross-polarization. We describe the design, tolerance, manufacture, and measurements of these coatings and present measurements of the optical properties of silicon at millimeter wavelengths at cryogenic and room temperatures. This coating and lens fabrication approach is applicable from centimeter to sub-millimeter wavelengths and can be used to fabricate coatings with greater than octave bandwidth
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: The polarization-sensitive ACTPol instrument
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is designed to make high angular
resolution measurements of anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB) at millimeter wavelengths. We describe ACTPol, an upgraded receiver for
ACT, which uses feedhorn-coupled, polarization-sensitive detector arrays, a 3
degree field of view, 100 mK cryogenics with continuous cooling, and meta
material anti-reflection coatings. ACTPol comprises three arrays with separate
cryogenic optics: two arrays at a central frequency of 148 GHz and one array
operating simultaneously at both 97 GHz and 148 GHz. The combined instrument
sensitivity, angular resolution, and sky coverage are optimized for measuring
angular power spectra, clusters via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich and kinetic
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signals, and CMB lensing due to large scale structure. The
receiver was commissioned with its first 148 GHz array in 2013, observed with
both 148 GHz arrays in 2014, and has recently completed its first full season
of operations with the full suite of three arrays. This paper provides an
overview of the design and initial performance of the receiver and related
systems
Large-aperture Wide-bandwidth Antireflection-coated Silicon Lenses for Millimeter Wavelengths
The increasing scale of cryogenic detector arrays for submillimeter and millimeter wavelength astrophysics has led to the need for large aperture, high index of refraction, low loss, cryogenic refracting optics. Silicon with n 3.4, low loss, and high thermal conductivity is a nearly optimal material for these purposes but requires an antireflection (AR) coating with broad bandwidth, low loss, low reflectance, and a matched coefficient of thermal expansion. We present an AR coating for curved silicon optics comprised of subwavelength features cut into the lens surface with a custom three-axis silicon dicing saw. These features constitute a metamaterial that behaves as a simple dielectric coating.We have fabricated silicon lenses as large as 33.4 cm in diameter with micromachined layers optimized for use between 125 and 165 GHz. Our design reduces average reflections to a few tenths of a percent for angles of incidence up to 30deg with low cross polarization.We describe the design, tolerance, manufacture, and measurements of these coatings and present measurements of the optical properties of silicon at millimeter wavelengths at cryogenic and room temperatures. This coating and lens fabrication approach is applicable from centimeter to submillimeter wavelengths and can be used to fabricate coatings with greater than octave bandwidth
Performance and on-sky optical characterization of the SPTpol instrument
In January 2012, the 10m South Pole Telescope (SPT) was equipped with a
polarization-sensitive camera, SPTpol, in order to measure the polarization
anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Measurements of the
polarization of the CMB at small angular scales (~several arcminutes) can
detect the gravitational lensing of the CMB by large scale structure and
constrain the sum of the neutrino masses. At large angular scales (~few
degrees) CMB measurements can constrain the energy scale of Inflation. SPTpol
is a two-color mm-wave camera that consists of 180 polarimeters at 90 GHz and
588 polarimeters at 150 GHz, with each polarimeter consisting of a dual
transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers. The full complement of 150 GHz
detectors consists of 7 arrays of 84 ortho-mode transducers (OMTs) that are
stripline coupled to two TES detectors per OMT, developed by the TRUCE
collaboration and fabricated at NIST. Each 90 GHz pixel consists of two
antenna-coupled absorbers coupled to two TES detectors, developed with Argonne
National Labs. The 1536 total detectors are read out with digital
frequency-domain multiplexing (DfMUX). The SPTpol deployment represents the
first on-sky tests of both of these detector technologies, and is one of the
first deployed instruments using DfMUX readout technology. We present the
details of the design, commissioning, deployment, on-sky optical
characterization and detector performance of the complete SPTpol focal plane.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Conference: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and
Instrumentation 201
Detection of B-mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background with Data from the South Pole Telescope
Gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background generates a curl
pattern in the observed polarization. This "B-mode" signal provides a measure
of the projected mass distribution over the entire observable Universe and also
acts as a contaminant for the measurement of primordial gravity-wave signals.
In this Letter we present the first detection of gravitational lensing B modes,
using first-season data from the polarization-sensitive receiver on the South
Pole Telescope (SPTpol). We construct a template for the lensing B-mode signal
by combining E-mode polarization measured by SPTpol with estimates of the
lensing potential from a Herschel-SPIRE map of the cosmic infrared background.
We compare this template to the B modes measured directly by SPTpol, finding a
non-zero correlation at 7.7 sigma significance. The correlation has an
amplitude and scale-dependence consistent with theoretical expectations, is
robust with respect to analysis choices, and constitutes the first measurement
of a powerful cosmological observable.Comment: Two additional null tests, matches version published in PR
Design and characterization of 90 GHz feedhorn-coupled TES polarimeter pixels in the SPTpol camera
The SPTpol camera is a two-color, polarization-sensitive bolometer receiver,
and was installed on the 10 meter South Pole Telescope in January 2012. SPTpol
is designed to study the faint polarization signals in the Cosmic Microwave
Background, with two primary scientific goals. One is to constrain the
tensor-to-scalar ratio of perturbations in the primordial plasma, and thus
constrain the space of permissible inflationary models. The other is to measure
the weak lensing effect of large-scale structure on CMB polarization, which can
be used to constrain the sum of neutrino masses as well as other growth-related
parameters. The SPTpol focal plane consists of seven 84-element monolithic
arrays of 150 GHz pixels (588 total) and 180 individual 90 GHz single-pixel
modules. In this paper we present the design and characterization of the 90 GHz
modules
Measurements of Sub-degree B-mode Polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background from 100 Square Degrees of SPTpol Data
We present a measurement of the -mode polarization power spectrum (the
spectrum) from 100 of sky observed with SPTpol, a
polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole
Telescope. The observations used in this work were taken during 2012 and early
2013 and include data in spectral bands centered at 95 and 150 GHz. We report
the spectrum in five bins in multipole space, spanning the range , and for three spectral combinations: 95 GHz 95 GHz, 95
GHz 150 GHz, and 150 GHz 150 GHz. We subtract small ( in units of statistical uncertainty) biases from these spectra and
account for the uncertainty in those biases. The resulting power spectra are
inconsistent with zero power but consistent with predictions for the
spectrum arising from the gravitational lensing of -mode polarization. If we
assume no other source of power besides lensed modes, we determine a
preference for lensed modes of . After marginalizing over
tensor power and foregrounds, namely polarized emission from galactic dust and
extragalactic sources, this significance is . Fitting for a single
parameter, , that multiplies the predicted lensed -mode
spectrum, and marginalizing over tensor power and foregrounds, we find
, indicating that our measured spectra are
consistent with the signal expected from gravitational lensing. The data
presented here provide the best measurement to date of the -mode power
spectrum on these angular scales.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
- …