SHARC-II is a 32 × 12 pixel submillimeter camera that is used with the ten-meter diameter Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) on Mauna Kea. This camera can be operated at either 350 or 450 microns. We developed a module that is installed at the CSO Nasmyth focus in order to convert SHARC-II into a sensitive imaging polarimeter, which we refer to as "SHARP". SHARP splits the incident beam into two orthogonal polarized beams that are then re-imaged onto different halves of the SHARC-II bolometer array. When this removable polarimetry module is in use, SHARC-II becomes a dual-beam 12 × 12 pixel polarimeter. Sky noise is a significant source of error for submillimeter continuum observations. Because SHARP will simultaneously observe two orthogonal polarization components, we are able to eliminate or greatly reduce this source of error. Here we describe the design of SHARP and report preliminary results of tests and observations carried out during our first two runs at CSO in August 2005 and January 2006.

Date Published: 6 July 2006
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 6275, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 62751H (6 July 2006); doi: 10.1117/12.671591

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6275:
Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy III
Jonas Zmuidzinas; Wayne S. Holland; Stafford Withington; William D. Duncan, Editor(s)