Research Overview

Our research group uses the tools of experimental physics to study our Universe. We have a particular focus on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) which is the radiation left over from the Big Bang. With our collaborators we develop, build, and deploy instruments to measure the CMB and analyze data through to cosmological results. Goals for this work include understanding inflation (the first 10-34 s after the Big Bang), dark energy, and measuring the sum of the neutrino masses.


ACTPol is a sensitive polarimeter array for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. This new instrument will measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), map cosmic shear through CMB lensing, and detect a large number of galaxy clusters. These measurements will improve our understanding of cosmology.


Multichroic horn coupled polarimeters provide an avenue to improve the sensitivity of CMB polarization experiments while increasing the spectral coverage and maintaining excellent control over polarization systematics. First generation pixels with 2.3:1 ratio bandwidth will soon be deployed on ACTPol and wider band detectors are under development.


MUSTANG2 is a new 90 GHz receiver for the 100 meter Green Bank Telescope (GBT) which will have > 100 times the mapping speed of the MUSTANG receiver. This instrument will enable high resolution imaging of the SZ signal from a of a large number of galaxy clusters, improving our understanding of cluster astrophysics and tightening cosmological constraints.