Large-format platinum silicide microwave kinetic inductance detectors for optical to near-IR astronomy

Szypryt, Paul; Meeker, Seth R.; Coiffard, G.; Fruitwala, Neelay; Bumble, B.; Ulbricht, Gerhard; Walter, Alex; Daal, M.; Bockstiegel, Clint; Collura, G.; Zobrist, Nicholas; Lipartito, Isabel; Mazin, Benjamin A.

doi:10.1364/oe.25.025894

Cited by 64 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…6 It has ten niobium coplanar waveguide feedlines and a 20,440 pixel platinum silicide MKID array multiplexed over 4 to 8 GHz. 1 Each pixel is a lumped element resonator, capacitively coupled to one of the feedlines. A microscope image of a pixel is shown in the inset of figure 1.…”

Section: Dbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide-band parametric amplifier readout and resolution of optical microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Zobrist

Eom

Day

et al. 2019

Applied Physics Letters

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The energy resolution of a single photon counting Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID) can be degraded by noise coming from the primary low temperature amplifier in the detector's readout system. Until recently, quantum limited amplifiers have been incompatible with these detectors due to dynamic range, power, and bandwidth constraints. However, we show that a kinetic inductance based traveling wave parametric amplifier can be used for this application and reaches the quantum limit. The total system noise for this readout scheme was equal to ∼2.1 in units of quanta. For incident photons in the 800 to 1300 nm range, the amplifier increased the average resolving power of the detector from ∼6.7 to 9.3 at which point the resolution becomes limited by noise on the pulse height of the signal. Noise measurements suggest that a resolving power of up to 25 is possible if redesigned detectors can remove this additional noise source.Optical MKIDs 1 are superconducting, single photon counting, energy resolving sensors which are sensitive to radiation in the ultraviolet to near infrared range. Advantages over semiconductor detectors in this wavelength band include the absence of false counts (read noise, dark current, and cosmic rays), intrinsic spectral resolution, high speed, and radiation hardness. Other superconducting detectors have shown promise at these wavelengths, 2,3 but they are difficult to chain together into large arrays. Optical MKIDs, however, are naturally frequency domain multiplexed, which has enabled full-scale instruments at the Palomar observatory 4,5 and Subaru telescope. 6 In the future, these detectors will be included in a balloon borne mission. 7 Photon counting MKIDs operate differently than MKIDs designed for longer wavelength detection in the bolometric regime. Instead of measuring a constant flux of photons, they record individual photon events similarly to an X-ray calorimeter. To achieve a measurable detector response for a single photon event they tend to be smaller and able to handle less signal power than their longer wavelength bolometric counterparts. In these conditions, amplifier noise can be comparable in magnitude to the detector phase noise that originates from microscopic two-level system (TLS) states on the surface or between layers of the device. 8 The TLS noise can be mitigated through careful sample preparation, 9 fabrication, 10,11 and device design 12-14 while the effect of amplifier noise can be addressed by designing detectors that can handle higher signal powers. 15,16 These routes are actively pursued, but, for optical MKIDs, improving the main readout amplifier's noise floor offers an additional path to lowering the total system noise.Quantum mechanics imposes an uncertainty relationship between the two quadratures of an electromagnetic signal. 17 This relationship results in a lower limit to the noise that a high gain, phase-preserving, linear amplifier adds to its input signal, equal to that of the electromagnetic zero-point fluctuations (A = 1 /2). To readout a...

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Section: Dbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide-band parametric amplifier readout and resolution of optical microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Zobrist

Eom

Day

et al. 2019

Applied Physics Letters

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“…The resonators are placed at a 236 µm pitch, and each has a 40 µm × 40 µm inductor and a 100 µm × 130 µm capacitor-a similar design to that used in our current full-scale instruments. 19 Gold wire bonds connect gold pads on the perimeter of the 2.5 mm × 16.5 mm chip to its light-tight device box to improve thermalization.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19 Tungsten was unavailable in our deposition system, so we used chromium as the hafnium capping layer to fabricate a 20 440 pixel MEC-style array. 19 Other potential capping materials were investigated, and more details can be found in the appendices. To adjust the film impedance to the MEC design, the hafnium film thickness was increased to 200 nm.…”

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confidence: 99%

Design and performance of hafnium optical and near-IR kinetic inductance detectors

Zobrist

Coiffard

Bumble

et al. 2019

Applied Physics Letters

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We report on the design and performance of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) sensitive to single photons in the optical to near-infrared range using hafnium as the sensor material. Our test device had a superconducting transition temperature of 395 mK and a room temperature normal state resistivity of 97 µΩ cm with an RRR = 1.6. Resonators on the device displayed internal quality factors of around 200 000. Similar to the analysis of MKIDs made from other highly resistive superconductors, we find that modeling the temperature response of the detector requires an extra broadening parameter in the superconducting density of states. Finally, we show that this material and design is compatible with a full-array fabrication process which resulted in pixels with decay times of about 40 µs and resolving powers of ∼9 at 800 nm.Optical and near-IR (OIR) MKIDs are superconducting sensors capable of measuring the arrival time and energy of optical to near-infrared photons. 1 They are less sensitive to false counts and radiation damage 2 than semiconductor devices operating in the same wavelength range and can achieve higher readout speeds. Moreover, each MKID is a high quality factor resonator which allows for natural frequency domain multiplexing and distinguishes the technology from other superconducting detectors. These advantages make arrays of OIR MKIDs useful as astrophysics cameras focusing on timedomain astronomy 3-5 and high contrast imaging. 6-8 To date, commissioned instruments have used either nonstoichiometric titanium nitride or platinum silicide alloys as the photon-sensitive material in the resonators and have achieved resolving powers, R = E/∆E, of up to 8 at 800 nm. 9 This resolving power has been shown to be limited equally by stationary noise, generated by two-level systems (TLS) in the device and amplifiers in the readout chain, as well as an intrinsic variance in the photon signal pulse height, likely caused by phonon escape from the superconductor to the substrate during the initial photon energy down-conversion. 10

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“…Since that time, the Mazin Lab have fielded further instruments focused on the application to exoplanet direct imaging, with arrays of up to 20,000 pixels [4,9]. These instruments contain UVOIR MKID arrays that use PtSi [10] as the superconductor. They have, however, been shown to have energy resolutions an order of magnitude or more below the maximum energy resolution for such a material.…”

Section: Status Of the Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

KIDSpec: An MKID-Based Medium-Resolution, Integral Field Spectrograph

O’Brien

2020

J Low Temp Phys

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KIDSpec, the Kinetic Inductance Detector Spectrograph, is a concept for a highly sensitive, medium-spectral-resolution optical through near-IR spectrograph. It uses the intrinsic-energy-resolving capability of an array of optical/IR-sensitive MKIDs to distinguish multiple orders from a low-resolution grating. By acting as an 'order resolver,' the MKID array replaces the cross-disperser in an echelle spectrograph. This greatly simplifies the optical layout of the spectrograph and enables longer slits than are possible with cross-dispersed instruments (to improve sky subtraction). KIDSpec would have similar capabilities to ESO's highly successful X-shooter instrument. It would provide an R = 4000-10,000 spectrum covering the optical and near-IR spectral range (0.4-1.5 µm). As well as a 'long-slit' mode, the IFU would provide a small ( ∼ 50 spaxel ) field of view for spatially resolved sources. In addition, the photon-counting operation of MKIDs and their photon-energy-resolving ability enable a read-noise-free spectrum with perfect cosmic ray removal. The spectral resolution would be sufficient to remove the bright night-sky lines without the additional pixel noise, making the instrument more sensitive than an equivalent semiconductor-based instrument. KIDSpec would enhance many existing high-profile science cases, including transient (GRB, SNe, etc.) follow-up, redshift determination of faint objects and transit spectroscopy of exoplanets. In addition, it will enable unique science cases, such as dynamical mass estimates of the compact objects in ultra-compact binaries.

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Large-format platinum silicide microwave kinetic inductance detectors for optical to near-IR astronomy

Cited by 64 publications

References 15 publications

Wide-band parametric amplifier readout and resolution of optical microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Wide-band parametric amplifier readout and resolution of optical microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Design and performance of hafnium optical and near-IR kinetic inductance detectors

KIDSpec: An MKID-Based Medium-Resolution, Integral Field Spectrograph

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