Design and Initial Performance of SHARP, a Polarimeter for the SHARC-II Camera at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory

TL;DR

SHARP is a newly developed polarimeter module for the SHARC-II camera, enabling sensitive imaging polarimetry at submillimeter wavelengths with promising initial performance metrics.

Contribution

This paper introduces the design and initial testing results of SHARP, a novel polarimeter using a crossed grid for submillimeter polarization measurements.

Findings

Beam size of 9 arcseconds at 350 microns

Throughput of 75% at 350 microns

Instrumental polarization less than 1%

Abstract

We have developed a fore-optics module that converts the SHARC-II camera at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory into a sensitive imaging polarimeter at wavelengths of 350 and 450 microns. We refer to this module as "SHARP". SHARP splits the incident radiation into two orthogonally polarized beams that are then re-imaged onto opposite ends of the 32 x 12 pixel detector array in SHARC-II. A rotating half-wave plate is used just upstream from the polarization-splitting optics. The effect of SHARP is to convert SHARC-II into a dual-beam 12 x 12 pixel polarimeter. A novel feature of SHARP's design is the use of a crossed grid in a submillimeter polarimeter. Here we describe the detailed optical design of SHARP and present results of tests carried out during our first few observing runs. At 350 microns, the beam size (9 arcseconds), throughput (75%), and instrumental polarization (< 1%) are all very close to our design goals.