The Experiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM)

The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a cryogenic balloon-borne instrument that will survey galaxy and star formation history over cosmological timescales. Rather than identifying individual objects, EXCLAIM will be a pathfinder to demonstrate an intensity mapping approach, which measures the cumulative redshifted line emission. EXCLAIM will operate at 420–540 GHz with a spectral resolution \(R=512\) to measure the integrated CO and [CII] in redshift windows spanning \(0< z < 3.5\). CO and [CII] line emissions are key tracers of the gas phases in the interstellar medium involved in star formation processes. EXCLAIM will shed light on questions such as why the star formation rate declines at \(z < 2\), despite continued clustering of the dark matter. The instrument will employ an array of six superconducting integrated grating-analog spectrometers (\(\mu\)-Spec) coupled to microwave kinetic inductance detectors. Here we present an overview of the EXCLAIM instrument design and status.