BU-Made Mirror Installed at the South Pole Telescope
Incoming assistant professor Kirit Karkare is co-PI of the South Pole Telescope Summertime Line Intensity Mapper (SPT-SLIM), an experiment at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station that uses new superconducting detector technology to detect galaxies from early in the universe’s history. BU was responsible for fabricating the mirror that directs light collected by the SPT primary mirror to the detectors. The Scientific Instrument Facility (SIF), including Heitor Mourato, Glenn Thayer, and Jose Velho, machined the mirror in time for deployment to the South Pole in December 2024. Pictured are SPT winterover Dr. Simeon Bash after installation, and the 10-m SPT primary mirror. SPT-SLIM is now taking data and the BU team is excited to analyze it!
Photo credits: Adam Anderson, Brad Benson