| This thesis describes the design and performance of the QUaD experiment and presents some of its earliest results. QUaD is a millimeter-wavelength polarimeter designed for observing the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). QUaD was commissioned at the MAPO observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in the Austral Summer of 2004/2005, achieved first light in Feb 2005, and began science observation in May.; QUaD observes the CMB with an array of 31 polarization-sensitive Neutron Transmutation Doped (NTD) germanium bolometers split between two frequency bands centered at 100 and 150 GHz. The telescope is a 2.6 m on-axis Cassegrain design with beam sizes of 6.3' and 4.2' at the two respective observing frequencies. The resolution and scan strategy are optimized to probe the CMB E-mode power spectrum over a multipole range of 100 to 2500. The performance of the system has been characterized with commissioning observations and a high signal-to-noise map of the CMB temperature anisotropy has been made over a ∼50 square degree area.; CMB polarization anisotropies, only recently detected, promise a wealth of new cosmological information. Their observation complements the many successful temperature anisotropy measurements already performed, confirming our basic understanding of the early universe and leading to tighter constraints on cosmological parameters. Furthermore, polarization observations provide a probe of structure since the last scattering surface and promise unique constraints on inflation through the imprint of relict gravitational radiation. |
