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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Kinetic inductance detectors for 200μm astronomy

Simon M. Doyle, Jack Alexander Naylon, James Cox, Philip D. Mauskopf, Adrian Porch

Published Jun 14, 2006• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) provide an attractive solution to the production of large detector arrays for use in ground and space based 200μm astronomy. KIDs work by measuring the change in quasi-particle density upon photon absorption in a high Q superconducting resonator. A change in quasi-particle density is measured by a shift in phase of a microwave probe signal of frequency equal to that of the resonant frequency of the KID. Such detectors have a fundamental noise limit owing to the quasi-particle recombination rate, which, in a KID fabricated from a high quality Niobium film can give sensitivities of 10-18W√Hz at 1K. Constructing KIDs of varying resonant frequencies coupled to a single transmission line provides a multiplexed detector array with simple low temperature electronics. Here we discuss the theoretical requirements for both ground and space based 200μm cameras with various radiation coupling schemes for this wavelength range using distributed and lumped element high Q resonators.

DOI
10.1117/12.670200

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Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) provide an attractive solution to the production of large detector arrays for use in ground and space based 200μm astronomy. KIDs work by measuring the change in quasi-particle density upon photon absorption in a high Q superconducting resonator. A change in quasi-particle density is measured by a shift in phase of a microwave probe signal of frequency equal to that of the resonant frequency of the KID. Such detectors have a fundamental noise limit owing to the quasi-particle recombination rate, which, in a KID fabricated from a high quality Niobium film can give sensitivities of 10-18W√Hz at 1K. Constructing KIDs of varying resonant frequencies coupled to a single transmission line provides a multiplexed detector array with simple low temperature electronics. Here we discuss the theoretical requirements for both ground and space based 200μm cameras with various radiation coupling schemes for this wavelength range using distributed and lumped element high Q resonators.
Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) provide a promising solution to the problem of producing large format arrays of ultra sensitive detectors for astronomy. Traditionally KIDs have been constructed from superconducting quarter-wavelength or half-wavelength resonator elements capacitively coupled to a co-planar feed line. Photons are detected by measuring the change in quasi-particle density caused by the splitting of Cooper pairs in the superconducting resonant element. This change in quasi-particle density alters the kinetic inductance, and hence the resonant frequency of the resonant element. This arrangement requires the quasi-particles generated by photon absorption to be concentrated at positions of high current density in the resonator. This is usually achieved through antenna coupling or quasi-particle trapping. For these detectors to work at wavelengths shorter than around 500 mum where antenna coupling can introduce a significant loss of efficiency, then a direct absorption method needs to be considered [3]. One solution to this problem is the Lumped Element KID (LEKID), which shows no current variation along its length and can be arranged into a photon absorbing area coupled to free space and therefore requiring no antennas or quasi-particle trapping. This paper outlines the basic concept of the LEKID, along with theoretical performance and experimental data for these devices.
Focal plane arrays consisting of low-noise, polarisation-sensitive detectors have made possible the pioneering advances in the study of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). To make further progress, the next generation of CMB experiments (e.g. CMB-S4) will require a substantial increase in the number of detectors compared to current instruments. Arrays of kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) provide a possible path to realising such large-format arrays owing to their intrinsic multiplexing advantage and relative cryogenic simplicity. In this paper, we report on the design of a variant of the traditional KID design: the antenna-coupled lumped-element KID. A polarisation-sensitive twin-slot antenna placed behind an optimised hemispherical lens couples power onto a thin-film superconducting microstrip line. The power is then guided into the inductive section of an aluminium KID, where it is absorbed and modifies both the resonant frequency and quality factor of the KID. We present the various aspects of the design and preliminary results from the first set of seven-element prototype arrays and compare to the expected modelled performance.
Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) are superconducting thin-film microresonators that are sensitive photon detectors. These detectors are a candidate for the next generation of experiments designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). I discuss the basic theory needed to understand the response of a KID to light, focusing on the dynamics of the quasiparticle system. I derive an equation that describes the dynamics of the quasiparticle number, solve it in a simplified form not previously published, and show that it can describe the dynamic response of a detector. Magnetic flux vortices in a superconducting thin film can be a significant source of dissipation, and I demonstrate some techniques to prevent their formation. Based on the presented theory, I derive a corrected version of a widely-used equation for the quasiparticle recombination noise in a KID. I show that a KID consisting of a lumped-element resonator can be sensitive enough to be limited by photon noise, which is the fundamental limit for photometry, at a level of optical loading below levels in ground-based CMB experiments. Finally, I describe an ongoing project to develop multichroic KID pixels that are each sensitive to two linear polarization states in two spectral bands, intended for the next generation of CMB experiments. I show that a prototype 23-pixel array can detect millimeter-wave light, and present characterization measurements of the detectors.
We present results from completely lithographic antenna-coupled Microwave Kinetic Inductance detectors (MKIDs). MKIDs are superconducting resonators with resonant frequency and quality-factor which are highly sensitive to changes in the density of the quasiparticle population which occurs when photons above the superconducting gap energy are absorbed. The resonators are coupled to submm light through on-chip phased-array slot antennas. Each planar antenna consists of an array of N long slots which are fed along their length at M points. The resulting N*M feed points are combined in-phase using a binary summing tree made of low-loss superconducting microstrip lines. Due to its large size, the resulting planar antenna produces a narrow beam pattern and can therefore be used without additional optical coupling elements such as feedhorns or substrate lenses. The output of the antenna is a single superconducting thin-film microstrip line which can be efficiently coupled to one (or more) kinetic inductance coplanar waveguide resonators to produce a single (or multi-color) pixel in an imaging focal plane array, using in-line lumped element lithographic band-pass filters. Such highly integrated architectures can be easily fabricated on a single substrate, and many detectors can be frequency multiplexed through coupling to a single feedline. Microwave readout provides a lot of bandwidth per detector, allowing a large number of pixels to be read using a single cryogenic microwave amplifier and warm readout electronics.
Superconducting microwave resonators have the potential to revolutionize submillimeter and far-infrared astronomy, and with it our understanding of the universe. The field of low-temperature detector technology has reached a point where extremely sensitive devices like transition-edge sensors are now capable of detecting radiation limited by the background noise of the universe. However, the size of these detector arrays are limited to only a few thousand pixels. This is because of the cost and complexity of fabricating large-scale arrays of these detectors that can reach up to 10 lithographic levels on chip, and the complicated SQUID-based multiplexing circuitry and wiring for readout of each detector. In order to make substantial progress, next- generation ground-based telescopes such as CCAT or future space telescopes require focal planes with large-scale detector arrays of 104–106 pixels. Arrays using microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID) are a potential solution. These arrays can be easily made with a single layer of superconducting metal film deposited on a silicon substrate and pattered using conventional optical lithography. Furthermore, MKIDs are inherently multiplexable in the frequency domain, allowing ∼ 103 detectors to be read out using a single coaxial transmission line and cryogenic amplifier, drastically reducing cost and complexity. An MKID uses the change in the microwave surface impedance of a superconducting thin-film microresonator to detect photons. Absorption of photons in the superconductor breaks Cooper pairs into quasiparticles, changing the complex surface impedance, which results in a perturbation of resonator frequency and quality factor. For excitation and readout, the resonator is weakly coupled to a transmission line. The complex amplitude of a microwave probe signal tuned on-resonance and transmitted on the feedline past the resonator is perturbed as photons are absorbed in the superconductor. The perturbation can be detected using a cryogenic amplifier and subsequent homodyne mixing at room temperature. In an array of MKIDs, all the resonators are coupled to a shared feedline and are tuned to slightly different frequencies. They can be read out simultaneously using a comb of frequencies generated and measured using digital techniques. This thesis documents an effort to demonstrate the basic operation of ∼ 256 pixel arrays of lumped-element MKIDs made from superconducting TiNx on silicon. The resonators are designed and simulated for optimum operation. Various properties of the resonators and arrays are measured and compared to theoretical expectations. A particularly exciting observation is the extremely high quality factors (∼ 3 × 107) of our TiNx resonators which is essential for ultra-high sensitivity. The arrays are tightly packed both in space and in frequency which is desirable for larger full-size arrays. However, this can cause a serious problem in terms of microwave crosstalk between neighboring pixels. We show that by properly designing the resonator geometry, crosstalk can be eliminated; this is supported by our measurement results. We also tackle the problem of excess frequency noise in MKIDs. Intrinsic noise in the form of an excess resonance frequency jitter exists in planar superconducting resonators that are made on dielectric substrates. We conclusively show that this noise is due to fluctuations of the resonator capacitance. In turn, the capacitance fluctuations are thought to be driven by two-level system (TLS) fluctuators in a thin layer on the surface of the device. With a modified resonator design we demonstrate with measurements that this noise can be substantially reduced. An optimized version of this resonator was designed for the multiwavelength submillimeter kinetic inductance camera (MUSIC) instrument for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory.
This work deals with the development of superconducting Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) for highly sensitive radio astronomy receivers within W-band (75 to 110 GHz). A bilayer based on superconducting titanium/aluminum (Ti/Al) thin films has been used for assessing its absorption performance in this frequency band at millikelvin temperature. A lumped-element inductor based on a 4th order Hilbert structure is designed to absorb the incoming radiation in two orthogonal linear polarizations. The development of a large-format camera prototype is presented. On one hand, ambient temperature quasi-optical characterization demonstrates a suitable absorption for both polarizations within the W-band. On the other hand, dark cryogenic characterization confirms the successful operation of the multiplexed KID devices providing high-quality factors and an operation yield of 97%. These results confirm these developments to be used in future polarimeter receivers.