Modeling the quasi-optical performance of CMB astronomical interferometers

The Millimeter-Wave Bolometric Interferometer (MBI) is a ground-based instrument designed to measure the polarization anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and contains a number of quasi-optical components, including a complex back-to-back system of corrugated feed-horn antennas. In this paper we use MBI as an example to demonstrate the existing modeling techniques and as a focus to develop extended modeling capabilities. The software we use to model this system targets the millimeter and sub-millimeter region of the electromagnetic spectrum and has been extended to efficiently model the performance of back-to-back corrugated horns embedded in larger optical systems. This allows the calculation of the coupling of radiation from the sky to the detector array through a back-to-back horn feed system.