Design, assembly, and initial test results of a cryostat for holographic characterization of microwave telescopes
Exploded view of the cryostat and radiation shields. Figure from Guðmundsson et al. (2026).Abstract
We describe the design, fabrication, assembly, and room-temperature vacuum qualification of a 1.4-m long cylindrical cryostat developed for holographic testing of cryogenic microwave telescope optics. The system contains nested 45- and 4-K radiation shields and is sized to accommodate full-scale optical assemblies relevant to cosmic microwave background instrumentation.
Jón E. Guðmundsson
Professor
Professor of astrophysics at the University of Iceland and senior research scientist at Stockholm University.
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.