Millimeter and sub-millimeter characterization of polymers used for infrared filters in high-sensitivity cryogenic microwave telescopes

Abstract

We report measurements of millimeter and sub-millimeter absorption in nylon, PTFE, and polyethylene, together with the relative power scattered out of the main beam from 90 to 330 GHz using a robot-enabled scanning vector network analyzer.

Rustam Balafendiev

PhD Student

Rustam Balafendiev received the M.Sc. degree in radiophysics from the School of Physics and Engineering, ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2021 and his first PhD degree at the same university in 2025. His current research interests include metamaterial applications in CMB instrumentation as well as the use of wire metamaterials in holography experiments.

Thomas Gascard

Postdoc

In the hope to contribute to the current efforts of the Cosmology comunity to unveil the early stages of the Universe and its evolution, I did a PhD. in instrumentation for cosmology applications at Cardiff University, which covers design methods, fabrication and experimental characterisation of a Metamaterial-based Lenslet (MetaL) prototype coupled to an antenna fed detector plane. I then joined the CMBeam group to carry on experimental characterisation and qualification of optics for futur cosmology experiments.

Jón E. Guðmundsson

Professor

Professor of astrophysics at the University of Iceland and senior research scientist at Stockholm University.