Design and testing of lightweight metamaterial absorbers for the LiteBIRD satellite

The specific work effort describes the design, testing, and flight qualification of metamaterial absorbers used on the LiteBIRD satellite mission which is designed to study the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The requested funds will support a Stockholm University postdoctoral researcher who will lead the proposed research.

The goal of this technology development effort is to push the state of the art of lightweight mm-wavelength absorbers for space applications, and in doing so, enable Swedish contributions to one of the key cosmological experiments of the coming decade.The LiteBIRD satellite, a successor to the highly successful Planck satellite (ESA M-class mission), is designed to provide measurements of the cosmic microwave background polarization with unprecedented precision and accuracy.

The cosmic microwave background---the afterglow of the big bang---has provided us with a wealth of astrophysical information and it is arguably the most prolific cosmological observable.

Recently, observatories have focused on the polarization of the CMB, including its relation to the early universe, the birth of stars, and the growth of structure.

The primary goal of the LiteBIRD satellite is to measure a swirly (B-mode) imprint in the polarization of the CMB caused by gravitational waves in the early universe.

The amplitude of this hypothesized signal relates to fundamental physics and energy scales that are inaccessible to any terrestrial experiments.

The search for this signal therefore represents one of the key efforts in fundamental physics for the coming years and decades, since this work will allow us to constrain models describing the very first moments in the history of our universe.