Instrumental performance and results from testing of the BLAST-TNG receiver, submillimeter optics, and MKID detector arrays

Galitzki, Nicholas, Angilè, Francesco E., Ade, Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5127-0401, Ashton, Peter, Austermann, Jason, Billings, Tashalee, Che, George, Cho, Hsiao-Mei, Davis, Kristina, Devlin, Mark, Dicker, Simon, Dober, Bradley J., Fissel, Laura M., Fukui, Yasuo, Gao, Jiansong, Gordon, Samuel, Groppi, Christopher E., Hillbrand, Seth, Hilton, Gene C., Hubmayr, Johannes, Irwin, Kent D., Klein, Jeffrey, Li, Dale, Li, Zhi-Yun, Lourie, Nathan P., Lowe, Ian, Mani, Hamdi, Martin, Peter G., Mauskopf, Philip David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6397-5516, McKenney, Christopher, Nati, Federico, Novak, Giles, Pascale, Enzo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3242-8154, Pisano, Giampaolo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4302-5681, Santos, Fabio P., Scott, Douglas, Sinclair, Adrian, Soler, Juan D., Tucker, Carole ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1851-3918, Underhill, Matthew, Vissers, Michael and Williams, Paul 2016. Instrumental performance and results from testing of the BLAST-TNG receiver, submillimeter optics, and MKID detector arrays. Presented at: Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, June 26 - 1 July 2016. Published in: Holland, Wayne S. and Zmuidzinas, Jonas eds. Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII (Proceedings). Proceedings of SPIE (9914) Bellingham, WA: Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers, 99140J. 10.1117/12.2231167

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Abstract

Polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains can be used to map magnetic fields in star forming molecular clouds and the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) flew from Antarctica in 2010 and 2012 and produced degree-scale polarization maps of several nearby molecular clouds with arcminute resolution. The success of BLASTPol has motivated a next-generation instrument, BLAST-TNG, which will use more than 3000 linear polarization- sensitive microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) combined with a 2.5 m diameter carbon fiber primary mirror to make diffraction-limited observations at 250, 350, and 500 µm. With 16 times the mapping speed of BLASTPol, sub-arcminute resolution, and a longer flight time, BLAST-TNG will be able to examine nearby molecular clouds and the diffuse galactic dust polarization spectrum in unprecedented detail. The 250 μm detec- tor array has been integrated into the new cryogenic receiver, and is undergoing testing to establish the optical and polarization characteristics of the instrument. BLAST-TNG will demonstrate the effectiveness of kilo-pixel MKID arrays for applications in submillimeter astronomy. BLAST-TNG is scheduled to fly from Antarctica in December 2017 for 28 days and will be the first balloon-borne telescope to offer a quarter of the flight for “shared risk” observing by the community.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QB Astronomy
Publisher:	Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
ISBN:	9781510602076
ISSN:	0277-786X
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2025 22:59
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/94258

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