Download or read book Measuring Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background with the South Pole Telescope Polarization Experiment written by James Sayre and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The South Pole Telescope Polarization experiment (SPTpol) is a camera consisting of 180 (588) pixels observing bands centered at 90 (150) GHz, installed on the South Pole Telescope in December 2012. It is a high-resolution, high-sensitivity instrument for mapping the polarized component of the Cosmic Microwave Background. In this thesis, we describe the development, testing, and deployment of transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers that make up the camera pixels, as well as the data analysis pipeline used to generate power spectra of the CMB. The tests used to measure various detector properties are described and their results displayed, and details of the analysis routines are explained. We conclude with preliminary results from SPTpol and a discussion of future directions for the experiment.