Cryogenic technology for CMBPol

Abstract

Future space telescopes such as CMBPol, SAFIR, DARWIN, SPICA and XEUS will require cooling to very low temperatures. Staged cooling is the most efficient means of achieving low temperature in an observatory or instrument with the least cost and mass. The first stage is usually passive radiators taking advantage of views to deep space. In the past stored cryogen systems provided the next lower stagesof cooling. Mechanical cryocoolers represent a significant enabling technology, especially at the lower temperatures where the passive coolers' effectiveness is limited. These coolers are in general lighter, have more cooling capability, and more operationally flexible than stored cryogens. Sub Kelvin cooling is required for many of the most sensitive detectors. For fundamental reasons, microcalorimeters and bolometers must be cooled to extremely low temperature to achieve their ultimate resolution and, eventually, background-limited detection. The state of the art for these cryogenic cooling technologies are presented along with plans to advance the technology readiness level to enable these future missions.