MKID Development

Overview

Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) are planar superconducting resonators that can be used to detect photons. The kinetic inductance and dissipation of the superconducting film depend on the quasiparticle density. When sufficiently energetic photons are absorbed by the KID, Cooper pairs break, causing an increase in the quasiparticle density, a decrease in the resonant frequency, and a decrease in the resonator quality factor. These changes can be detected by monitoring the amplitude and phase of a probe tone that drives the resonator at its nominal resonant frequency. Each KID resonator is given a unique resonant frequency, so hundreds to thousands of detectors in an array can be read out on a single transmission line.  The three KID architectures we have been developing are described below.

Photograph of the MKID testing laboratory.

Multi-Chroic MKIDs

Photograph of the horn-coupled multi-chroic MKIDs we are developing with NSF/ATI support.
Development of Multi-Chroic MKIDs for Next-Generation CMB Polarization Studies.” Johnson, B. R., Flanigan, D., et al. (2018) J. Low Temp. Phys., 193, 3-4, 103-112. (arXiv)
“Kinetic inductance detectors for measuring the polarization of the cosmic microwave background.”  Dr. Daniel Flanigan, Ph.D. Thesis, Columbia University, 2018.
“Polarization sensitive Multi-Chroic MKIDs.”  Johnson, B. R., Flanigan, D., et al. (2016) Proc. SPIE, 9914, 99140X. (arXiv)

Dual-Polarization LEKIDs

Photograph of the horn-coupled dual-polarization LEKIDs we are developing.
Design and performance of kinetic inductance detectors for cosmic microwave background polarimetry.” Dr. Heather McCarrick, Ph.D. Thesis, Columbia University, 2018.
“Design and performance of dual-polarization lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors.”  McCarrick, H., Jones, G., Johnson, B. R., et al. (2018) A&A, 610, A45. (arXiv)
“Development of dual-polarization LEKIDs for CMB observations.”  McCarrick, H., et al. (2016) Proc. SPIE, 9914, 99140O. (arXiv)

Single-Polarization LEKIDs

“High quality factor manganese-doped aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors sensitive to frequencies below 100 GHz.” Jones et al. (2017) Appl. Phys. Lett., 110, 222601. (arXiv) Our work was featured on the cover of the journal.
“Magnetic field dependence of the internal quality factor and noise performance of lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors.” Flanigan, D., Johnson, B. R., et al. (2016) Appl. Phys. Lett., 110, 222601. (arXiv)
“Photon noise from chaotic and coherent millimeter-wave sources measured with horn-coupled, aluminum lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors.” Flanigan, D., McCarrick, H., Jones, G., Johnson, B. R., et al. (2016) Appl. Phys. Lett., 108, 083504. (arXiv)
“A Titanium Nitride Absorber for Reducing Optical Cross-Talk in Horn-Coupled Aluminum LEKIDs for Millimeter Wavelengths.” McCarrick, H., Flanigan, D., Jones, G., Johnson, B. R., et al. (2016) J. Low Temp. Phys., 184, 1, 154-160. (arXiv)
“Horn-Coupled, Commercially-Fabricated Aluminum Lumped-Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors for Millimeter Wavelengths.” McCarrick, H., Flanigan, D., Jones, G., Johnson, B. R., et al. (2014) Rev. Sci. Instrum., 85, 1, 123117. (arXiv)
“A LEKID-based CMB instrument design for large-scale observations in Greenland.” Araujo, D., et al. (2014) Proc. SPIE, 9153, 91530W. (arXiv)