https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202022800021
The NIKA polarimeter on science targets: Crab nebula observations at 150 GHz and dual-band polarization images of Orion Molecular Cloud OMC-1
1
Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LPSC-IN2P3, 53, avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France
2
LLR (Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet), CNRS, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France
3
Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA), Plaza San Juan, 1, planta 2, E-44001, Teruel, Spain
4
Astronomy Instrumentation Group, University of Cardiff, UK
5
AIM, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
6
Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
7
Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), CNRS and Université Paris Sud, Orsay, France
8
Institut Néel, CNRS and Université Grenoble Alpes, France
9
Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy
10
Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), Grenoble, France
11
Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Torrejón de Ardoz, 28850 Madrid, Spain
12
Instituto de Radioastronomía Milimétrica (IRAM), Granada, Spain
13
Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, CNES, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille), Marseille, France
14
LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMCUniv. Paris 06, 75014 Paris, France
15
School of Earth and Space Exploration and Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287
16
Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS (UMR7095), 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
17
Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
* e-mail: alessia.ritacco@ias.u-psud.fr
Published online: 27 January 2020
We present here the polarization system of the NIKA camera and give a summary of the main results obtained and performed studies on Orion and the Crab nebula. The polarization system was equipped with a room temperature continuously rotating multi-mesh half wave plate and a grid polarizer facing the NIKA cryostat window. NIKA even though less sensitive than NIKA2 had polarization capability in both 1 and 2 millimiter bands. NIKA polarization observations demonstrated the ability of such a technology in detecting the polarization of different targets, compact and extended sources like the Crab nebula and Orion Molecular Cloud region OMC-1. These measurements together with the developed techniques to deal with systematics, opened the way to the current observations of NIKA2 in polarization that will provide important advances in the studies of galactic and extra-galactic emission and magnetic fields.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2020
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
