A new polarimeter for (sub)millimeter bolometer arrays

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
² now at University of California, Department of Physics, 366 LeConte Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Corresponding author: G. Siringo, gsiringo@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Received: 9 December 2003
Accepted: 1 April 2004

Abstract

A new polarimeter concept has been designed to be used together with the bolometer arrays developed at the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie in Bonn. The new polarimeter has the unique characteristic of being tunable over a wide range of wavelengths and of producing negligible absorption. It has been used at the Heinrich Hertz Telescope to measure the linear polarization of several quasars and of extended sources inside our Galaxy. Some results are presented here. We detected polarization in the quasars 3C 279 and QSO B1633+382. In 3C 279 we also detected polarization variability on a time scale of a week. We also produced maps of three extended sources: the Becklin-Neugebauer/Kleinmann-Low (BNKL) complex in the Orion Molecular Cloud 1 (OMC 1), a filamentary cloud in OMC 3, and the massive star-forming region IRAS 05358+3543. The polarimeter has low spurious polarization and a high modulation efficiency, and the tests at the telescope show that it is well suited to become a permanent facility.