The DØ experiment enjoyed a very successful data-collection run at the Fermilab Tevatron collider between 1992 and 1996. Since then, the detector has been upgraded to take advantage of improvements to the Tevatron and to enhance its physics capabilities. We describe the new elements of the detector, including the silicon microstrip tracker, central fiber tracker, solenoidal magnet, preshower detectors, forward muon detector, and forward proton detector. The uranium/liquid-argon calorimeters and central muon detector, remaining from Run I, are discussed briefly. We also present the associated electronics, triggering, and data acquisition systems, along with the design and implementation of software specific to DØ.

We present DARKNESS (the DARK-speckle Near-infrared Energy-resolving Superconducting Spectrophotometer), the first of several planned integral field spectrographs to use optical/near-infrared Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) for high-contrast imaging. The photon counting and simultaneous low-resolution spectroscopy provided by MKIDs will enable real-time speckle control techniques and post-processing speckle suppression at framerates capable of resolving the atmospheric speckles that currently limit high-contrast imaging from the ground. DARKNESS is now operational behind the PALM-3000 extreme adaptive optics system and the Stellar Double Coronagraph at Palomar Observatory. Here we describe the motivation, design, and characterization of the instrument, early on-sky results, and future prospects.

Increasing luminosity at the Fermilab Tevatron collider has led the D0 collaboration to make improvements to its detector beyond those already in place for Run IIa, which began in March 2001. One of the cornerstones of this Run IIb upgrade is a completely redesigned level-1 calorimeter trigger system. The new system employs novel architecture and algorithms to retain high efficiency for interesting events while substantially increasing rejection of background. We describe the design and implementation of the new level-1 calorimeter trigger hardware and discuss its performance during Run IIb data taking. In addition to strengthening the physics capabilities of D0, this trigger system will provide valuable insight into the operation of analogous devices to be used at LHC experiments.

The development of the Skipper-charge-coupled devices (Skipper-CCDs) has been a major technological breakthrough for sensing very weak ionizing particles. The sensor allows to reach the ultimate sensitivity of silicon material as a charge signal sensor by unambiguous determination of the charge signal collected by each cell or pixel, even for single electron-hole pair ionization. Extensive use of the technology was limited by the lack of specific equipment to operate the sensor at the ultimate performance. A simple, single-board Skipper-CCD controller designed by the authors is presented and aimed for the operation of the detector in high sensitivity scientific applications. Our article describes the main components and functionality of the so-called low threshold acquisition controller together with experimental results when connected to a Skipper-CCD sensor. Measurements show unprecedented deep subelectron noise of 0.039 e − rms ∕pix by nondestructively measuring the charge 5000 times in each pixel.

We present the development of a second generation digital readout system for photon counting microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) arrays operating in the optical and near-IR wavelength bands. Our system retains much of the core signal processing architecture from the first generation system, but with a significantly higher bandwidth, enabling readout of kilopixel MKID arrays. Each set of readout boards is capable of reading out 1024 MKID pixels multiplexed over 2 GHz of bandwidth; two such units can be placed in parallel to read out a full 2048 pixel microwave feedline over a 4 -8 GHz band. As in the first generation readout, our system is capable of identifying, analyzing, and recording photon detection events in real time with a time resolution of order a few microseconds. Here, we describe the hardware and firmware, and present an analysis of the noise properties of the system. We also present a novel algorithm for efficiently suppressing IQ mixer sidebands to below −30 dBc.