BICEP2 builds on the small aperture telescope design of BICEP1, but greatly increases the number of detectors to increase mapping speed. The BICEP2 detectors are polarization sensitive bolometers made from a pair of transition edge sensors coupled to orthogonal phased antenna arrays. The transition edge sensors provide background-limited sensitivity at the observing frequency of 150 GHz while antenna arrays improve the scalability of the design.

News from the Pole

BICEP2 was deployed during the austral summer of 2009-2010 and is currently in its third year of observing.