Angular and Polarization Response of Multimode Sensors with
  Resistive-Grid Absorbers
  High sensitivity receiver systems with near ideal polarization sensitivity
are highly desirable for development of millimeter and sub-millimeter radio
astronomy. Multimoded bolometers provide a unique solution to achieve such
sensitivity, for which hundreds of single-mode sensors would otherwise be
required. The primary concern in employing such multimoded sensors for
polarimetery is the control of the polarization systematics. In this paper, we
examine the angular- and polarization- dependent absorption pattern of a thin
resistive grid or membrane, which models an absorber used for a multimoded
bolometer. The result shows that a freestanding thin resistive absorber with a
surface resistivity of \eta/2, where \eta\ is the impedance of free space,
attains a beam pattern with equal E- and H-plane responses, leading to zero
cross polarization. For a resistive-grid absorber, the condition is met when a
pair of grids is positioned orthogonal to each other and both have a
resistivity of \eta/2. When a reflective backshort termination is employed to
improve absorption efficiency, the cross-polar level can be suppressed below
-30 dB if acceptance angle of the sensor is limited to <60degrees. The small
cross-polar systematics have even-parity patterns and do not contaminate the
measurements of odd-parity polarization patterns, for which many of recent
instruments for cosmic microwave background are designed. Underlying symmetry
that suppresses these cross-polar systematics is discussed in detail. The
estimates and formalism provided in this paper offer key tools in the design
consideration of the instruments using the multimoded polarimeters.
