BICEP3 focal plane design and detector performance

Understand

BICEP3, the latest telescope in the BICEP/Keck program, started science observations in March 2016.

• It is a 550mm aperture refractive telescope observing the polarization of the cosmic microwave background at 95 GHz.
• We show the focal plane design and detector performance, including spectral response, optical efficiency and preliminary sensitivity of the upgraded BICEP3.
• We demonstrate 9.72$\mu$K$\sqrt{\textrm{s}}$ noise performance of the BICEP3 receiver.