Abstract:

The polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides an opportunity to study the contents and evolution of the universe. Specifically, measurements of the E-mode polarization angular power spectrum can confirm the 'standard model' of cosmology and yield additional information which will help break parameter degeneracies and exclude some presently allowed theories. In the future, measurements of B-mode polarization will help constrain models of inflation as well as provide information about dark matter and dark energy at recent times through gravitational lensing.

This thesis describes work on the CAPMAP experiment, an effort to characterize the E-mode polarization of the CMB at small angular scales between [cursive l] [approximate] 300 and [cursive l] [approximate] 1800. The first half of this work focuses on the design and characterization of this instrument, detailing the optics, scan strategy, and calibration. The second half of this work describes the analysis, focusing on the analysis method and time stream processing and concluding with a forecast of the expected results.