The Simons Observatory: Detector performance and noise characterization

The Simons Observatory is a ground-based experiment designed to measure the cosmic microwave background with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. Located in the Atacama Desert, it will deploy more than 70,000 transition-edge sensor bolometers across multiple frequency bands(20–300 GHz) in both large- and small-aperture telescopes. Achieving the science goals of Simons Observatory – such as detecting primordial B-mode polarization and constraining the sum of neutrino masses – demands exquisite control of detector noise and systematics.

In this talk, I will present an overview of the detector architecture and performance. I will discuss recent laboratory and on-sky characterization results, including detector yield, noise-equivalent temperature and stability across observing bands. These results demonstrate that the SO detectors are paving the way toward precision CMB polarization measurements in the coming years.