On-Sky Performance of the SPT-3G Frequency-Domain Multiplexed Readout

  • A. N. Bender
  • , A. J. Anderson
  • , J. S. Avva
  • , P. A.R. Ade
  • , Z. Ahmed
  • , P. S. Barry
  • , R. Basu Thakur
  • , B. A. Benson
  • , L. Bryant
  • , K. Byrum
  • , J. E. Carlstrom
  • , F. W. Carter
  • , T. W. Cecil
  • , C. L. Chang
  • , H. M. Cho
  • , J. F. Cliche
  • , A. Cukierman
  • , T. de Haan
  • , E. V. Denison
  • , J. Ding
  • M. A. Dobbs, D. Dutcher, W. Everett, K. R. Ferguson, A. Foster, J. Fu, J. Gallicchio, A. E. Gambrel, R. W. Gardner, A. Gilbert, J. C. Groh, S. Guns, R. Guyser, N. W. Halverson, A. H. Harke-Hosemann, N. L. Harrington, J. W. Henning, G. C. Hilton, W. L. Holzapfel, D. Howe, N. Huang, K. D. Irwin, O. B. Jeong, M. Jonas, A. Jones, T. S. Khaire, A. M. Kofman, M. Korman, D. L. Kubik, S. Kuhlmann, C. L. Kuo, A. T. Lee, E. M. Leitch, A. E. Lowitz, S. S. Meyer, D. Michalik, J. Montgomery, A. Nadolski, T. Natoli, H. Nguyen, G. I. Noble, V. Novosad, S. Padin, Z. Pan, P. Paschos, J. Pearson, C. M. Posada, W. Quan, A. Rahlin, D. Riebel, J. E. Ruhl, J. T. Sayre, E. Shirokoff, G. Smecher, J. A. Sobrin, A. A. Stark, J. Stephen, K. T. Story, A. Suzuki, K. L. Thompson, C. Tucker, L. R. Vale, K. Vanderlinde, J. D. Vieira, G. Wang, N. Whitehorn, V. Yefremenko, K. W. Yoon, M. R. Young

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Frequency-domain multiplexing (fMux) is an established technique for the readout of large arrays of transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers. Each TES in a multiplexing module has a unique AC voltage bias that is selected by a resonant filter. This scheme enables the operation and readout of multiple bolometers on a single pair of wires, reducing thermal loading onto sub-Kelvin stages. The current receiver on the South Pole Telescope, SPT-3G, uses a 68x fMux system to operate its large-format camera of ∼ 16,000 TES bolometers. We present here the successful implementation and performance of the SPT-3G readout as measured on-sky. Characterization of the noise reveals a median pair-differenced 1/f knee frequency of 33 mHz, indicating that low-frequency noise in the readout will not limit SPT-3G’s measurements of sky power on large angular scales. Measurements also show that the median readout white noise level in each of the SPT-3G observing bands is below the expectation for photon noise, demonstrating that SPT-3G is operating in the photon-noise-dominated regime.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)182-191
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Low Temperature Physics
Volume199
Issue number1-2
Early online dateDec 17 2019
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 2020

Keywords

  • Cosmic microwave background
  • Frequency-domain multiplexing
  • Transition-edge sensor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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