Feedhorn development and scalability for Simons Observatory and beyond

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development and scalability of spline-profiled feedhorns for the Simons Observatory, aiming to enhance CMB measurement capabilities and prepare for future experiments.

Contribution

It introduces scalable manufacturing techniques for feedhorn arrays, including direct-machining and laser machining of stacked silicon, for large-scale CMB instrumentation.

Findings

Successful demonstration of scalable feedhorn production methods

Assessment of feedhorn performance for CMB measurements

Potential for future large-scale CMB experiments

Abstract

The Simons Observatory (SO) will measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in both temperature and polarization over a wide range of angular scales and frequencies from 27-270 GHz with unprecedented sensitivity. One technology for coupling light onto the $\sim$50 detector wafers that SO will field is spline-profiled feedhorns, which offer tunability between coupling efficiency and control of beam polarization leakage effects. We will present efforts to scale up feedhorn production for SO and their viability for future CMB experiments, including direct-machining metal feedhorn arrays and laser machining stacked Si arrays.