A readout for large arrays of microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Abstract

Design and analysis of multi-color confocal microscopy with a wavelength scanning detector Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 053704 (2012) Short wavelength thermography: Theoretical and experimental estimation of the optimal working wavelength J. Appl. Phys. 111, 084903 (2012) Hole shape effect induced optical response to permittivity change in palladium sub-wavelength hole arrays upon hydrogen exposure J. Appl. Phys. 111, 084502 (2012) Few-photon-level two-dimensional infrared imaging by coincidence frequency upconversion Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 151102 (2012) Channelling optics for high quality imaging of sensory hair Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 045001 (2012) Additional information on Rev. Sci. Instrum. Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) are superconducting detectors capable of counting single photons and measuring their energy in the UV, optical, and near-IR. MKIDs feature intrinsic frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) at microwave frequencies, allowing the construction and readout of large arrays. Due to the microwave FDM, MKIDs do not require the complex cryogenic multiplexing electronics used for similar detectors, such as transition edge sensors, but instead transfer this complexity to room temperature electronics where they present a formidable signal processing challenge. In this paper, we describe the first successful effort to build a readout for a photon counting optical/near-IR astronomical instrument, the ARray Camera for Optical to Nearinfrared Spectrophotometry. This readout is based on open source hardware developed by the Collaboration for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research. Designed principally for radio telescope backends, it is flexible enough to be used for a variety of signal processing applications.

Kinetic inductance magnetometer

“…The device is fabricated from a single superconducting thin-film layer of NbN, simplifying the fabrication processes compared with other magnetometer technologies considerably. In addition, the technology is compatible with frequency-division multiplexing in analogy to submillimeter-wave kinetic inductance detectors 21 , enabling a compact readout of an array of sensors. Large sensor arrays are needed, for instance, in biomagnetic imaging systems relying on inverse mathematics in source mapping 22 .…”

Optical lumped element microwave kinetic inductance detectors

“…A comb of probe signals is sent into the device, and room temperature electronics recover the changes in amplitude and phase without significant cross talk 8 , as shown in Figure 1. In this way, readout complexity is transferred to the room temperature electronics 11 .…”

“…Intrinsic frequency domain multiplexing allows thousands of pixels to be read out over a single microwave cable 11 . The first deployed MKID array had 1024 pixels.…”

Status of MUSIC, the MUltiwavelength Sub/millimeter Inductance Camera

“…The IF board LOs are commanded to step through a range of a few hundred kHz, taking data at each LO setting, to obtain S 21 (f RF ) through the resonances. The S 21 data are analyzed and new resonance frequencies are chosen by finding the maximum in |dS 21 /df RF | for each MKID. A new DAC buffer is generated with these new resonance frequencies (but with readout power levels unchanged) and loaded into the FPGA.…”