The NIKA2 Instrument, A Dual-Band Kilopixel KID Array for Millimetric Astronomy

Abstract

NIKA2 (New IRAM KID Array 2) is a camera dedicated to millimeter wave astronomy based upon kilopixel arrays of Kinetic Inductance Detectors 1 (KID). The pathfinder instrument, NIKA 2 , has already shown state-of-the-art detector performance. NIKA2 builds upon this experience but goes one step further, increasing the total pixel count by a factor ∼10 while maintaining the same per pixel performance. For the next decade, this camera will be the resident photometric instrument of the Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) 30m telescope in Sierra Nevada (Spain). In this paper we give an overview of the main components of NIKA2, and describe the achieved detector performance. The camera has been permanently installed at the IRAM 30m telescope in October 2015. It will be made accessible to the scientific community at the end of 2016, after a one-year commissioning period. When this happens, NIKA2 will become a fundamental tool for astronomers worldwide.

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“…MKID technology is also becoming suitable for multicolor wild-field imaging instruments, as demonstrated by NIKA2 on the IRAM 30-m telescope (Calvo et al 2016 23 ). A 600-pixel MKID camera for the Nobeyama 45-m telescope is also under development (Sekimoto et al 2014 24 ).…”

High quality factor platinum silicide microwave kinetic inductance detectors

“…Because the bandgap ∆ of a superconductor is roughly 10 4 times smaller than that of the silicon used in conventional charge-coupled devices (CCDs), MKIDs are capable of detecting the long wavelength photons that would typically pass right through a CCD. MKIDs can be operated over a broad wavelength range and a handful of MKID astronomy instruments in the submillimeter 5,6 and the ultraviolet, optical, and nearinfrared (UVOIR) 7,8 wavelength bands have been commissioned. Although our work is primarily focused on the a) pszypryt@physics.ucsb.edu UVOIR regime, MKIDs operating at all wavelengths benefit from advances in the superconducting sensor layer.…”