Abstract: Sensitive Detection of B-Mode Polarization: Instrumentation and Systematics

Numerous experiments in the last two decades have shown that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a powerful cosmological probe. The temperature anisotropy of the CMB has now been mapped to exquisite precision by many experiments, yielding tight constraints on the standard ΛCDM cosmological model. Many current and upcoming experiments focus on measuring CMB polarization, which potentially encodes information about the earliest epochs in the universe's formation. Detection of the faint CMB polarization signal requires unprecedented instrumental sensitivity and careful control of instrumental systematics. The talk will focus on two CMB polarimetry telescopes, BICEP and POLARBEAR, and will discuss their novel instrumentation, systematics, and plans for future design and development.