Polarization Measurements with the South Pole Telescope

Abstract

I will give an overview of the SPTpol and SPT-3G experiments. SPTpol is a polarization-sensitive camera designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) deployed on the 10 meter South Pole Telescope (SPT) in January 2012. I will present recent results of the E-mode and TE-mode CMB power spectra, derived from 100 square degrees observed in the first year of observations. Additionally I will show B-mode power spectra, measurements of the gravitational lensing potential, and briefly report on the status of the full 500 square degree SPTpol survey. Finally, I will discuss the status of SPT’s next-generation camera, SPT-3G, which will consist of 16,200 polarization-sensitive transition-edge sensors (TES), contained within 2700 multi-chroic pixels with observing bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, and scheduled to achieve first light in January 2016.