The Q/U Imaging ExperimenT (QUIET): The Q-band Receiver Array Instrument and Observations

Phase I of the Q/U Imaging ExperimenT (QUIET) measures the Cosmic Microwave Background polarization anisotropy spectrum at angular scales 25 ! ! ! 1000. QUIET has deployed two independent receiver arrays. The 40-GHz array took data between October 2008 and June 2009 in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. The 90-GHz array was deployed in June 2009 and observations are ongoing. Both receivers observe four 15◦×15◦ regions of the sky in the southern hemisphere that are expected to have low or negligible levels of polarized foreground contamination. This thesis will describe the 40 GHz (Q-band) QUIET Phase I instrument, instrument testing, observations, analysis procedures, and preliminary power spectra.