BICEP2 telescope. Computer artwork showing the design of the BICEP2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2) telescope with its sensor array at centre. This telescope, part of the Dark Sector Lab operated by the USA's National Science Foundation, is used to examine the cosmic microwave background (CMB). It uses a transition edge sensor (TES) composed of an array of 51MB2 detectors that are sensitive to the CMB. In March 2014, it was announced that the BICEP2 telescope had detected a distinctive pattern in the CMB that supports the inflation theory of the Big Bang. These results relate to what are called B-mode distortions in the CMB.