Probing the Universe

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My research group exploits the benefits of the stratospheric balloon environment by developing and flying balloon-borne telescopes which operate at a variety of wavelengths to achieve a range of high-priority science goals. Atmospheric attenuation and noise in the substantially degrades ground based observations of sub-mm wavelength light, even from the tallest mountains, and refraction by the turbulent atmosphere limits the resolution of visible light observations from the ground. Astronomical telescopes flying from stratospheric balloons at 35km to 40km altitudes avoid these negative effects, providing an economical alternative to space-borne missions. In the next period my group will work on Spider, BLAST, and BIT.Spider is a mm-wave polarimeter which will measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background, with the goal of detecting gravitational waves emitted during the first fraction of a second of the Universe. Detection of these waves will provide critical insight into the evolution of the early Universe. Spider is scheduled to fly in 2013 and 2015.The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-mm Telescope (BLAST) will map out magnetic fields through measurements of polarization of sub-mm light, with the goal of understanding the impact of magnetic fields in star formation. BLAST will fly in 2012, and 2016.The Balloon-borne Imaging Test-bed (BIT) is a visible light telescope which will demonstrate diffraction-limited imaging in visible and near UV light as the first step towards developing a wide field imaging telescope for gravitaional lensing, among other applications. The first flight of BIT is in 2014.In addition to the development and flight of these instruments, students my group will be involved in simulations in support of the science, and the analysis of resulting data.