BICEP2

BICEP2 was a survey of CMB polarization carried out at the South Pole Station, which is a follow-on to an earlier survey called BICEP (for Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization). The Keck Array and BICEP3 are follow-on surveys/telescopes at the South Pole pursuing the same goals, and the BICEP Array is being deployed as a follow-on to the Keck Array. The terms also refer to the survey-specific telescopes used.

It was announced in early 2014 that BICEP2 detected B-mode (polarization modes) gravitational waves from the early universe, offering evidence of inflation, but further analysis concluded that dust within the Milky Way could produce such a signal, so the observation was inconclusive.