B-BOP, the SPICA Imaging Polarimeter

TL;DR

B-BOP is a proposed polarimetric camera for the SPICA space observatory designed to measure submillimeter polarization to study magnetic fields in space with high sensitivity and multi-band capability.

Contribution

This paper introduces the design and expected performance of B-BOP, a novel polarization-sensitive instrument for the SPICA mission, featuring ultra-sensitive silicon bolometers and multi-band observations.

Findings

Design details of B-BOP's optical and thermal architecture

Preliminary lab results indicating high detector sensitivity

Expected polarization measurement capabilities in three spectral bands

Abstract

We present the B-BOP instrument, a polarimetric camera on board the future ESA-JAXA SPICA far-infrared space observatory. B-BOP will allow the study of the magnetic field in various astrophysical environments thanks to its unprecedented ability to measure the linear polarization of the submillimeter light. The maps produced by B-BOP will contain not only information on total power, but also on the degree and the angle of polarization, simultaneously in three spectral bands (70, 200 and 350 microns). The B-BOP detectors are ultra-sensitive silicon bolometers that are intrinsically sensitive to polarization. Their NEP is close to 10E-18 W/sqrt(Hz). We will present the optical and thermal architectures of the instrument, we will detail the bolometer design and we will show the expected performances of the instrument based on preliminary lab work.