Probing the Birth of the Universe with Large-Format Detector Arrays
This blog post originated in the 2017 Science Mission Directorate Technology Highlights Report (33 MB PDF). Technology Development Precise polarization measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, an ancient glow from the early universe, may help scientists better understand how the universe rapidly expanded in a burst called “inflation” moments after the Big Bang. NASA is developing ultra-sensitive detector arrays to make highly sensitive polarization measurements in a search for a faint polarization pattern caused by gravitational waves produced during inflation. This technology will result in instruments that not only provide improved polarization measurements, but can be deployed on space-based missions, enabling collection of this data across the entire sky. High-sensitivity maps of CMB polarization made at three frequencies by the ground-based BICEP-Keck collaboration. The maps show tiny variations in the polarized signal at a level of +/- 1 micro Kelvin, clearly detected at all three frequencies. These maps have a sensitivity of 50 nK...