The Benefits of Multimode Polarization Measurements and Frequency Selective Bolometers

The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) contains information about the details of the universe just prior to the decoupling of radiation and baryons at z ∼ 1100, as well as the universe the CMB photons have since traversed. Degree-scale measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB have and will continue to give us information about the universe at decoupling; few-arcminute angular scale measurements should tell us much about the structure with which the photons have interacted along their paths. For a detailed discussion of these effects and the information that can be gleaned from them, see Hu and Dodelson (2001) for a recent review. We focus here on two science goals and the scope of instrumentation needed to target them. We also present a new idea for polarization and frequency multiplexed bolometric detectors that would enable extremely sensitive measurements of CMB polarization.