# The Detector System for the Stratospheric Kinetic Inductance Polarimeter (SKIP)

Source: [The Detector System for the Stratospheric Kinetic Inductance Polarimeter (SKIP)](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa2d7e1e209131ce85a0c0>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-24T16:19:13.895Z

Authors: B. R. Johnson, P. A. R. Ade, D. Araujo, K. J. Bradford, D. Chapman, P. K. Day, J. Didier, S. Doyle, H. K. Eriksen, D. Flanigan, C. Groppi, S. Hillbrand, G. Jones, M. Limon, P. Mauskopf, H. McCarrick, A. Miller, T. Mroczkowski, B. Reichborn-Kjennerud, B. Smiley, J. Sobrin, I. K. Wehus, J. Zmuidzinas

Published: 2013-08-01T15:07:38.000Z

## Abstract

The Stratospheric Kinetic Inductance Polarimeter (SKIP) is a proposed balloon-borne experiment designed to study the cosmic microwave background, the cosmic infrared background and Galactic dust emission by observing 1133 square degrees of sky in the Northern Hemisphere with launches from Kiruna, Sweden. The instrument contains 2317 single-polarization, horn-coupled, aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKID). The LEKIDs will be maintained at 100 mK with an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The polarimeter operates in two configurations, one sensitive to a spectral band centered on 150 GHz and the other sensitive to 260 and 350 GHz bands. The detector readout system is based on the ROACH-1 board, and the detectors will be biased below 300 MHz. The detector array is fed by an F/2.4 crossed-Dragone telescope with a 500 mm aperture yielding a 15 arcmin FWHM beam at 150 GHz. To minimize detector loading and maximize sensitivity, the entire optical system will be cooled to 1 K. Linearly polarized sky signals will be modulated with a metal-mesh half-wave plate that is mounted at the telescope aperture and rotated by a superconducting magnetic bearing. The observation program consists of at least two, five-day flights beginning with the 150 GHz observations.

## Recorded benchmark results

A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage.

## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1308.0235>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/1308.0235.pdf>)