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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Prospects of Kinetic Inductance Current Sensors for Multiplexed Microcalorimeter Readout

G. C. O’Neil, S. R. Bandler, I. M. Fogarty Florang, John A. B. Mates, Daniel S. Swetz, Thomas R. Stevenson, Leaf A. Swordy, Joel N. Ullom, Michael R. Vissers, Jordan Wheeler, Wonsik Yoon, Paul Szypryt

Published Mar 13, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Superconducting microcalorimeter arrays with hundreds to thousands of pixels are enabling new measurements and capabilities in exotic atom spectroscopy, x-ray astronomy, nuclear materials analysis, and many other fields. We consider the prospects of multiplexing microcalorimeters with the kinetic inductance current sensor (KICS), an alternative to the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) historically used to read out cryogenic microcalorimeters. We show that the amplifier limited noise of the KICS is determined by its dynamic range, which is a free design parameter and tuneable with a DC current bias. We predict that KICS can meet the requirements to read out prototype metallic magnetic calorimeter (MMC) pixels designed for the Lynx x-ray satellite mission concept with the use of low-latency tone tracking. We propose a KICS design that has both high coupling efficiency and high isolation between the RF and DC components of the circuit. We argue that the KICS provides engineering trade-offs that are better suited to the readout of microcalorimeters when compared to the analogous microwave SQUID multiplexer.

DOI
10.1109/tasc.2026.3673656

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Superconducting microcalorimeter arrays with hundreds to thousands of pixels are enabling new measurements and capabilities in exotic atom spectroscopy, x-ray astronomy, nuclear materials analysis, and many other fields. We consider the prospects of multiplexing microcalorimeters with the kinetic inductance current sensor (KICS), an alternative to the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) historically used to read out cryogenic microcalorimeters. We show that the amplifier limited noise of the KICS is determined by its dynamic range, which is a free design parameter and tuneable with a DC current bias. We predict that KICS can meet the requirements to read out prototype metallic magnetic calorimeter (MMC) pixels designed for the Lynx x-ray satellite mission concept with the use of low-latency tone tracking. We propose a KICS design that has both high coupling efficiency and high isolation between the RF and DC components of the circuit. We argue that the KICS provides engineering trade-offs that are better suited to the readout of microcalorimeters when compared to the analogous microwave SQUID multiplexer.
We report on the use of a kinetic-inductance traveling-wave parametric amplifier (KITWPA) as the first amplifier in the readout chain of a microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer (μmux). This μmux is designed to multiplex signals from arrays of low temperature detectors, such as superconducting transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters. When modulated with a periodic flux-ramp to linearize the SQUID response, the flux noise improves, on average, from 1.6 μΦ0/Hz with the KITWPA off to 0.77 μΦ0/Hz with the KITWPA on. When statically biasing the μmux to the maximally flux-sensitive point, the flux noise drops from 0.45 μΦ0/Hz to 0.2 μΦ0/Hz. We validate this new readout scheme by coupling a transition-edge sensor microcalorimeter to the μmux and detecting background radiation. The combination of μmux and KITWPA provides a variety of new capabilities including improved detector sensitivity and more efficient bandwidth utilization.
We describe optimization of a cryogenic magnetometer that uses nonlinear kinetic inductance in superconducting nanowires as the sensitive element instead of a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The circuit design consists of a loop geometry with two nanowires in parallel, serving as the inductive section of a lumped LC resonator similar to a kinetic inductance detector (KID). This device takes advantage of the multiplexing capability of the KID, allowing for a natural frequency multiplexed readout. The Kinetic Inductance Magnetometer (KIM) is biased with a DC magnetic flux through the inductive loop. A perturbing signal will cause a flux change through the loop, and thus a change in the induced current, which alters the kinetic inductance of the nanowires, causing the resonant frequency of the KIM to shift. This technology has applications in astrophysics, material science, and the medical field for readout of Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters (MMCs), axion detection, and magnetoencephalography (MEG).
This thesis describes a multiplexer of Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) with low-noise, ultra-low power dissipation, and great scalability. The multiplexer circuit measures the magnetic flux in a large number of unshunted rf SQUIDs by coupling each SQUID to a superconducting microwave resonator tuned to a unique resonance frequency and driving the resonators from a common feedline. A superposition of microwave tones measures each SQUID simultaneously using only two coaxial cables between the cryogenic device and room temperature. This multiplexer will enable the instrumentation of arrays with hundreds of thousands of low-temperature detectors for new applications in cosmology, materials analysis, and nuclear non-proliferation.\nThe driving application of the Microwave SQUID Multiplexer is the readout of large arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensors, by some figures of merit the most sensitive detectors of electromagnetic signals over a span of more than nine orders of magnitude in energy, from 40 GHz microwaves to 200 keV gamma rays. Modern transition-edge sensors have noise-equivalent power as low as 10-20 W / [square root] Hz and energy resolution as good as 2 eV at 6 keV. These per-pixel sensitivities approach theoretical limits set by the underlying signals, motivating a rapid increase in pixel count to access new science. Compelling applications, like the non-destructive assay of nuclear material for treaty verification or the search for primordial gravity waves from inflation use arrays of these detectors to increase collection area or tile a focal plane.\nWe developed three generations of SQUID multiplexers, optimizing the first for flux noise (0.17 mu Phi0 / [square root] Hz) the second for input current noise (19 pA / [square root] Hz) and the last for practical multiplexing of large arrays of cosmic microwave background polarimeters based on transition-edge sensors. Using the last design we demonstrated multiplexed readout of prototype polarimeters with the performance required for the future development of a large-scale astronomical instrument.
Abstract Single-photon detectors based on the superconducting transition-edge sensor are used in a number of visible to near-infrared applications, particularly for photon-number-resolving measurements in quantum information science. To be practical for large-scale spectroscopic imaging or photonic quantum computing applications, the size of visible to near-infrared transition-edge sensor arrays and their associated readouts must be increased from a few pixels to many thousands. In this manuscript, we introduce the kinetic inductance current sensor, a scalable readout technology that exploits the nonlinear kinetic inductance in a superconducting resonator to make sensitive current measurements. Kinetic inductance current sensors can replace superconducting quantum interference devices for many applications because of their ability to measure fast, high slew-rate signals, their compatibility with standard microwave frequency-division multiplexing techniques, and their relatively simple fabrication. Here, we demonstrate the readout of a visible to near-infrared transition-edge sensor using a kinetic inductance current sensor with 3.7 MHz of bandwidth. We measure a readout noise of 1.4 pA/Hz1.4\,{{{\rm{pA}}}}/\sqrt{{{{\rm{Hz}}}}}1.4pA/Hz​ 1.4 pA / Hz , considerably below the detector noise at frequencies of interest, and an energy resolution of (0.137 ± 0.001) eV at 0.8 eV, comparable to resolutions observed with non-multiplexed superconducting quantum interference device readouts.
We report on the study of a microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer (MW-Mux) with current noise lower than that of our typical transition-edge sensor (TES) X-ray microcalorimeter. A large mutual inductance, between SQUID loop and input inductor connected to a TES X-ray microcalorimeter in series, realizes such low current noise referred to the SQUID input, but also can cause undesirable resonances which affect the SQUID performances. In this paper, we have developed the MW-Mux with mutual inductance of about 370 pH, which is six times larger than that of the previous one, by adopting a spiral input coil longer than a half wavelength at the readout microwave frequency. Its characteristics are evaluated, and the results have shown that the distortion of the SQUID characteristics and the degradation of its noise performance are not clearly observed. Finally, we have developed an MW-Mux microstrip SQUID with a low current noise of <; 20 pA/√(Hz) which is below the typical noise of our TES X-ray microcalorimeter, 30 pA/√(Hz).
Kinetic inductance traveling-wave parametric amplifiers (KITs) are under development for the read out of large cryogenic detector arrays. We present new KIT designs based on 20nm NbTiN films patterned by use of standard optical photolithography. We report device gain, bandwidth, and noise properties, which approach the quantum limit. In addition, we demonstrate a KIT preamplifier with a microwave SQUID multiplexer. The improved input referred current noise, as compared to standard HEMT readout, opens up new possibilities for cryogenic receivers. We discuss these benefits.