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Metamaterial Tiles Boost Sensitivity of Large Telescopes
Low-cost, mass producible technology poised to help Simons Observatory yield new insights into how the universe began
WASHINGTON – A multi-institutional group of researchers has developed new metamaterial tiles that will help improve the sensitivity of telescopes being built at the preeminent Simons Observatory in Chile. The tiles have been incorporated into receivers that will be deployed at the observatory by 2022.
The Simons Observatory is the center of an ambitious effort to measure the cosmic microwave background – electromagnetic radiation left over from an early stage of the universe – using some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated ground-based telescopes. These measurements will help improve our understanding of how the universe began, what it is made of and how it evolved into what it is today.