The Millimeter Bolometer Array Camera (MBAC) is sheduled for installation on the 6-meter Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in 2007. MBAC will eventually contain three diffraction-limited, 1024-pixel, focal plane arrays of Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We present instrument designs and results from optical and electrical measurements made with the MBAC prototype instrument, the Column Camera (CCam). Initial studies with CCam include measurements of the properties of TES detectors, the time-domain SQUID multiplexing readout system developed at NIST Boulder, the Cryoperm magnetic shielding, and preliminary optical measurements with the detectors. We also discuss the status of first light measurements with CCam mounted on a 1.5-meter telescope.

Date Published: 27 June 2006
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 6275, Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy III, 62750C (27 June 2006);

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)