We report on the breadboard model of a polarization modulator unit (PMU) using a sapphire-based achromatic half-wave plate (HWP) for the low-frequency telescope (LFT) of LiteBIRD, the JAXA-led space mission to probe cosmic inflation by observing the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. The PMU is a key component to reduce 1/f noise and the systematic effects between the two orthogonal polarized detectors. For the HWP, we glued together the surfaces of five 330 mm diameter sapphire plates using hydro catalysis bonding, working as HWP in LFT bands. We also fabricated anti-reflective sub-wavelength structures using ultra-short pulsed laser ablation. For the rotation mechanism, we use a superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB) and contactless synchronous motor to levitate, and rotate the HWP without any contact. Optical measurements show that fabricated HWP archives broadband transmission and polarization efficiency to obtain a sensitivity close to an ideal HWP. We investigate and characterize each component of the rotation mechanism, SMB, encoder to measure the rotation angle of HWP, and the holder mechanism. We improved the design of the rotation mechanism and reduced the total mass from 34.7 kg to 21.7 kg, which is significant reduction for the mass limited satellite mission. The knowledge of characterization for each component can be scaled to the size of the flight model of 480 mm diameter.
LiteBIRD is an JAXA-led strategic L-class satellite mission designed to measure the primordial B modes of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) to test cosmic inflation. The LiteBIRD Low-Frequency telescope employs a polarization modulator unit (PMU). The PMU is placed at the telescope aperture to modulate the incoming CMB polarization signal by using a continuous rotating half-wave plate to reduce the impact of 1/f noise and differential systematic effects. The current PMU design employs three cryogenic holder mechanisms that hold the rotor until the superconducting magnet bearing cools below its critical temperature after launch. They also serve a conductive path to the rotor when they are held. Minimizing the heat dissipation of this holder is one of the key development goals of the PMU due to the limited cooling power on the satellite system. In this paper, We report on the detailed design of the holder and the developed cryogenic stepping motor that actuates the holder. Also, we conducted the preliminary thermal characterization at around 7 K. The preliminary estimated total heat dissipation of the holder is 2.39 ± 0.09 mW when we activated it for 532 s.
This conference presentation was prepared for the Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy XI conference at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022.
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