I work on an experiment called BICEP: Background (or Badass) Imaging
of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization. BICEP is a milimeter-wave
bolometric receiver designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic
microwave background. In particular, we are looking for the curl mode
in the polarization, also affectionately known as the "smoking gun" of
inflation. BICEP successfully deployed to the South Pole in November
2005 and is now in its third season of observations. The photo to the
right shows (most of) the people on the experiment.
For more detailed information, check out some of the following links.
- Y. D. Takahashi et al., "CMB polarimetry with BICEP: instrument characterization, calibration, and performance"
- K. W. Yoon et al., "The Robinson Gravitational Wave Background Telescope (BICEP): a bolometric large angular scale CMB polarimeter"
- BICEP at Caltech (a bit outdated)
- 2005-2008 Pole deployment journal
- Build your own flexabicep: pdf or png
The movie below shows the microwave sky as seen by BICEP from the South Pole. Starting from our primary CMB field, the view moves in a circle around the sky, passing through the Galactic plane. The color scale adjusts throughout the movie so that both the CMB temperature fluctuations and Galactic plane are visible.