CLOVER array

Clover is a new instrument which has been designed to measure the B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background down to a sensitivity limited by the foreground contamination due to lensing, allowing the detection of primordial gravitational waves in the Universe. It will consist of three independent telescopes operating at 90, 150 and 220 GHz sited at Dome C, Antarctica each of which will implement large format focal-plane arrays of bolometric detectors.

Clover was approved for funding in 2005 and it is hoped that the full telescope will be operational by 2008. The project is jointly run by Cardiff University and the Cavendish Astrophysics Group.