The Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) will include the X-ray Integral Field Unit instrument (X-IFU). This instrument is baselined with an array of 3,168 transition-edge sensor (TES) pixels made with Mo/Au bilayers that will be AC biased and Frequency-Division Mutliplexed (FDM). Over the last few years, there has been intense effort at NASA/GSFC and SRON to better...
At SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, we are developing X-ray microcalorimeters as backup option for the baseline detectors in the X-IFU instrument on board of the ATHENA space mission led by ESA and to be launched in the early 2030s.
New, mixed 5X5 TiAu Transition Edge Sensor (TES) arrays where TESs have different high aspect ratios and high resistance have been fabricated to meet...
After more than 15 years of development, the technical maturity of MKIDs has greatly improved. Array level demonstrations of imagers and spectrometers now exist, measuring a wide coverage of frequencies, and with multiple optical coupling schemes. However, several different technical challenges must be overcome before MKIDs reach the point where they become a general solution for the full...
In this talk, I will present how we combine spectroscopy and imaging capabilities inside one compact device for submillimeter observations. This system is an interferometric system that has been designed to fulfill the spectroscopic requirements of a space mission. The idea is to bring a Fabry-Pérot spectrometer very close to the detector (silicon bolometers) such that they form a coupled,...
Arrays of lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) optically coupled through an antenna and transmission-line structure are a promising candidate for future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Using the separated architecture of a LEKID enables optical coupling to be realised, without the detector becoming susceptible to two-level system noise created by the...
The kinetic inductance detector (KID) offers an elegant and convenient solution to building large-format arrays operating at mm-wavelengths. Scaling alternative technology to the large detector counts required for future experiments requires auxiliary multiplexing components that can significantly increase the complexity and cost. Arrays of KIDs require no additional cryogenic multiplexing...
We report on the development of commercially fabricated multi-chroic antenna coupled Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarimetry experiments. The orders of magnitude increase in detector count for next generation CMB experiments require a new approach in detector wafer production to increase fabrication throughput.
We describe collaborative...
We have designed and tested a large area 11-gram photon detector with 45 cm$^2$ surface area and 3.9 eV energy resolution, employing a TES-based readout on a Si absorber. With a 20 $\mu$s rise time due to the fast collection of athermal phonons, this device significantly surpasses both timing and energy resolution requirements of future neutrinoless double beta decay experiments.
Though not...
CRESST (Cryogenic Rare Events Search with Superconducting Thermometers) is a long-standing experiment with cryogenic detectors located at the underground facility Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. CRESST-III, the third CRESST experiment generation, is designed to probe the spin-independent Dark Matter(DM)-nucleus cross-section with a world leading sensitivity for low DM particle...
This talk will give an overview of the cryogenic detector for the most sensitive experiment to probe the QCD axion to date, Axion Dark Matter eXperiment, (ADMX). The detector technology includes a dilution refrigerator operated at 90mK and quantum-noise-limited amplifiers which contribute minimally to the system noise temperature thereby increasing the experimental sensitivity to the QCD...
Today microwave SQUID multiplexing appears to be the most suitable cryogenic multiplexing technique for reading out large-scale detector arrays based on metallic magnetic calorimeters. Here, each detector is read out by a non-hysteretic, unshunted rf-SQUID that is inductively coupled to a superconducting microwave resonator with unique resonance frequency. Due to the magnetic flux dependence...
We are developing the frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) read-out of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters for the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) instrument on board of the future European X-Ray observatory Athena. The X-IFU instrument consists of an array of $\sim$3000 TESs with a high quantum efficiency (>90 % at 7 keV) and spectral resolution $\Delta E$=2.5 eV @ 7 keV...
In recent years, the development of fast and low-dark-count single-photon detectors for photonic quantum information applications promise a radical improvement in our capacity to search for dark matter. The advent of superconducting nanowire detectors, which have fewer than 10 dark counts per day and have demonstrated sensitivity from the mid-infrared to the ultraviolet wavelength band,...
The Quantum Capacitance Detector (QCD) is a new high-sensitivity direct detector under development for low background applications such as far-infrared spectroscopy from a cold space telescope. The QCD has demonstrated an optically-measured noise equivalent power of 2x10-20 W Hz-1/2 at 1.5THz, making it among the most sensitive far-IR detectors systems ever demonstrated, and meeting the...
Silicon carbide (SiC) is among the most promising optical material for the realization of classical and quantum photonics, due to the simultaneous presence of quantum emitters and a non-centrosymmetric crystal structure. In recent years, progress have been made in the development of SiC integrated optical components making this a mature platform for the implementation of quantum experiments on...
Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) carry the promise of a truly scalable detector solution, capable of filling the ambitiously large and densely populated focal planes envisioned for future sub-millimeter and millimeter-wave instruments. As part of our effort to realize their full potential, we have developed and fabricated the first kilopixel-scale arrays of KIDs on 150 mm diameter silicon...
The inflationary scenario generically predicts the existence of primordial gravitational waves, though over a wide range of amplitudes from slow-roll to multi-field models. The presence of these tensor perturbations at the last scattering surface imprinted the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization with a unique parity-odd “B-mode” pattern at 1-degree angular scale. The BICEP/Keck (BK)...
The advanced Mo-based rare process experiment (AMoRE) is an international project to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of 100Mo using a large-scale low temperature detector. The project employs scintillating molybdate crystals for high-resolution detection of phonon and scintillation signals with MMC readouts at mK temperatures. AMoRE-II, the second phase of the project, is...
The CUORE cryostat is today’s largest and most powerful dilution refrigerator in the world. Thanks to its cryogenic performance, CUORE is the first bolometric experiment that has been able to reach the one-ton scale. The CUORE cryostat provides up to 6 µW at 10 mK and can cool down to 6.9 mK a mass of about 1.5 ton in a 4 weeks timescale. By offering an experimental volume of 1 m$^3$ and by...
The NUCLEUS experiment aims for the detection of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering at a nuclear power reactor with gram-scale, ultra-low threshold cryogenic detectors. This technology leads to a miniaturization of neutrino detectors and allows to probe physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics.
We present results from a 0.5g prototype detector, operated above ground, which...
The goal of the Electron Capture in $^{163}$Ho (ECHo) experiment is the determination of the electron neutrino mass by the analysis of the electron capture spectrum of $^{163}$Ho. The detector technology is based on metallic magnetic calorimeters operated at cryogenic temperature in a reduced background environment. For the first phase of the experiment, ECHo-1k, the detector production has...
Frequency domain multiplexing (fMux) is an established technique for the readout of large arrays of transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers. Each TES in a multiplexing module has a unique AC voltage bias that is selected from a combined waveform by a resonant filter. This scheme enables the operation and readout of multiple bolometers on a single pair of wires, reducing thermal loading onto...
We present an on-sky demonstration of a microwave-multiplexing readout system in one of the receivers of the Keck Array, a polarimetry experiment observing the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at the South Pole. During the austral summer of 2018-2019, we replaced the time-domain multiplexing (TDM) system with microwave-multiplexing components including superconducting microwave resonators at...
Universal microwave multiplexing modules (UMMs) contain the 100 mK components of the Simons Observatory (SO) microwave multiplexing readout system. SO will map the cosmic microwave background in 6 frequency bands centered between 27 and 270 GHz with 60,000 transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers housed in 49 focal plane arrays called universal focal plane modules (UFMs). Enabling this high...
The next generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) imagers are nearly upon us. Large millimeter wave cryogenic receivers under development for the Simons Observatory, ALI-CPT, CCAT-prime, and BICEP array will each couple tens of thousands of transition-edge sensors (TES) onto the sky. These large sensor counts will be achieved by tiling multiple 150mm-diameter multichroic detector arrays...
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides a powerful tool for probing the earliest moments of the universe. However, millimeter-wave observations are complicated by the presence of astrophysical foregrounds, such as synchrotron emission and galactic dust, which also radiate at these wavelengths. By designing detectors with broad spectral coverage, these foregrounds can be separated from...
We report on the implementation of vacuum parallel-plate capacitor MKIDs for astronomical applications. MKIDs features an intrinsic excess noise probably due to the two-level systems (TLS) generated at metal/dielectric interface, particularly when dielectrics are amorphous, as well as in the bulk substrate. To attempt to reduce TLS, several groups are intensively investigating the use of...
Kinetic-inductance detectors have been developed rapidly thanks to their intrinsic frequency domain multiplexing property. However, the main limitation of the number of the usable detectors is found to be crosstalk in the frequency domain instead of fabrication yield. For example, the fraction of usable detectors of the NIKA2 instrument has been limited to 70~90% by the resonance overlapping...
An on-chip FTS consists of two waveguides coupled to long superconducting transmission lines (STLs) (∼ 520 mm) using two coupling probes. The signal propagating on one of the STLs is phase shifted with respect to the other line with a bias current that affects the nonlinear dependence of kinetic inductance, $\mathcal{L}_k(I)$ of the STL material. Here we describe measurements of a...
Future mm-wave and sub-mm space missions (e.g., PICO, LiteBIRD, SPICA, OST) will employ large arrays of multiplexed Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers that may be vulnerable to frequent 'glitches' caused by cosmic ray (CR) interactions. Such glitches posed a challenge to data analysis from the Planck bolometers, due to the high rate and long duration of glitches from interactions in the...
Recent developments of transition-edge sensors (TESes), based on extensive experience in ground-based experiments, have been making the sensor techniques matured enough for their application possibilities on future satellite CMB polarization experiments. LiteBIRD (Lite (Light) satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection) is in the...
The high dynamic range as well as the very good linearity in combination with an excellent energy resolution make metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) ideal detectors for different applications in high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. The maXs detector family consists of several 1- and 2-dimensional MMC arrays based on paramagnetic temperature sensors made of Ag:Er or Au:Er that are optimized...
Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) combine the very high energy resolution characteristic of cryogenic gamma detectors with a very small nonlinearity and a reproducible response function due to their all-metallic design and their thermodynamic equilibrium sensor. These attributes make MMCs well-suited for photon and particle spectroscopy applications requiring the highest accuracy. We are...
In 2018, we commissioned a gamma-ray spectrometer at Los Alamos National Laboratory consisting of 256 Transition-Edge Sensors (TESs) for high-resolution measurements of photon energies up to and beyond 200 keV. This instrument, called SLEDGEHAMMER, is the first fielded microcalorimeter instrument to be read out using microwave SQUID multiplexing. In this presentation, we discuss the...
Precise quantification of radionuclides in a radioactive sample by photon spectrometry requires a good knowledge of the photon emission intensities. However, they are hardly better known than to within 1%. In the case of actinide L X-rays, although their emission intensities are large, they are not detailed in the databases; sometimes there exist no measurements, therefore the intensities are...
Micro-X sounding rocket X-ray space telescope was launched for the first time on the night of the 22nd July 2018 from the White Sand Missile Range (New Mexico, USA). It successfully pioneered the first flight of a Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) array and its time multiplexing read-out system in space. This launch was dedicated to the observation of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. However, a...
We report on the development of large format arrays using multiabsorber transition edge sensors (TESs), commonly referred to as ‘hydras’. A hydra consists of multiple x-ray absorbers each with a different thermal conductance to a TES. Position information is encoded in the pulse shape. With some trade-off in performance, hydras enable the development of very large format arrays without the...
We describe performance of large-scale arrays of metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) we are developing to meet requirements of the Lynx X-ray Microcalorimeter (LXM) instrument in the astrophysics mission concept Lynx. We have fabricated prototypes with 55,800 x-ray pixels thermally connected to 5,688 MMC sensors. Subarrays demonstrate three types of pixels, which have different energy and...
The direct detection of WIMP dark matter has so far eluded detection efforts. Like WIMPs, the QCD axion is a natural dark-matter candidate, but large parts of its parameter space, including some of the most well-motivated models, remain unexplored. We describe the Dark Matter Radio (DM Radio), a low-temperature search for axions and hidden-photons over the peV$-$$\mu$eV mass range. Axion and...
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. Large multiplexed arrays of these detectors require high gain amplifiers which operate over a wide bandwidth and have a large dynamic range. Until recently, however, the best amplifiers...
Understanding “excess” noise in transition edge sensor microcalorimeters requires accurate models of their thermal circuit to correctly predict intrinsic noise components. Complex admittance measurements are routinely used to extract the parameters of the thermal model but can be ambiguous for complex thermal circuits. When measuring complex admittance, proper accounting for stray impedance is...
The combination of good energy resolution, high dynamic range, and large solid angle coverage has made arrays of transition-edge sensors (TES) an attractive option for x-ray spectral analysis. Because of these unique properties, we are developing a soft x-ray spectrometer that will become one of the first instruments available to scientists at the upgraded Linac Coherent Light Source...
We report on the design, commissioning, and first light measurements of the Non-destructive Statistical Estimation of Nanoscale Structures and Electronics (NSENSE) instrument developed for IARPA’s Rapid Analysis of Various Emerging Nanoelectronics (RAVEN) program. The goal of this program is to three-dimensionally image a 14 nm technology node integrated circuit (IC) with 10x10x10 nm spatial...
The isotope $^{229}$Th has the nuclear isomer state with the lowest presently known excitation energy, which possibly allows to connect the fields of nuclear and atomic physic with a potential application in a nuclear clock. In order to reduce the uncertainty of the currently most accepted value for this isomer energy, $(7.8\pm0.5)\,\mathrm{eV}$, we measure the $\gamma$-spectrum following the...
We applied a transition-edge-sensor(TES)-based X-ray spectrometer to a hadron-physics experiment at a charged-particle beam line for the first time.
An anti-kaon is the lightest meson containing a strange quark, and known to be strongly attractive to a nucleon. Therefore, anti-kaonic nuclear states have been proposed and are attracting great interest as a new form of matter and a possible...
As demanding applications such as x-ray spectroscopy push transition-edge sensors (TESs) to even better energy resolution, it is critical to understand all their potential noise sources. Since the early days of TESs, many groups have observed a broadband voltage noise that could not be explained by known noise mechanisms. In 2004, Ullom et al.[1] showed this unexplained noise could be...
Superconducting thin-films are central to the operation of many kinds of quantum sensors and quantum computing devices: Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs), Travelling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers (TWPAs), Qubits, and Spin-based Quantum Memory devices. In all cases, the nonlinearity resulting from the supercurrent is a critical aspect of behaviour, either because it is central to the operation...
TES based detectors nowadays show performances which make them very attractive for many applications. Despite these successes, there have been many reports of excess noise in TESs which still lack physical explanation. More specifically, it is a well known experimental fact that in many cases excess noise in TESs can be described accurately by assuming an increased Johnson noise power, which...
When quasiparticles in a BCS superconductor recombine into Cooper pairs, phonons are emitted within a narrow band of energies above the pairing energy at 2$\Delta$. These phonons either further Cooper break pairs after some time, or escape to the thermal bath of the system. We show that the quasiparticle lifetime in a superconductor can be increased by more than an order of magnitude by...
Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) are thin film, cryogenic, superconducting resonators. Incident Cooper pair-breaking radiation increases their kinetic inductance, thereby measurably lowering their resonant frequency. For a given resonant frequency, the highest MKID responsivity is obtained by maximizing the kinetic inductance fraction $\alpha$. However, in circuits with $\alpha$...
Due to the very weak electro-acoustic coupling of graphene, the energy transfer between the electrons and the lattice is very weak. In addition, the electronic heat capacity of graphene itself is very small. Therefore, it has a wide range of application prospects in fields such as high-sensitivity, high-speed heat radiation detectors. This research raise up a new bolometer based on...
Kinetic Inductance Detector (KID) is an appealing technology due to its straightforward fabrication in comparison to other detector technologies and the possibility it offers in multiplexing large detector arrays. The proximity effect can be used to optimally tune the property of a superconductor in a superconductor-normal bilayer structure. For the first time to our knowledge, we have...
We are developing ultra-low noise transition edge sensors (TESs) for the SAFARI far-IR spectrograph, part of the cryogenically-cooled SPICA mission now in phase-A study in Europe. The sensitivity target for these devices is a per-pixel noise equivalent power (NEP) below 10^-19 WHz^-1/2. In order to fully characterize these devices, the testing environment requires sufficient suppression of...
Thermal Kinetic Inductance Detectors (TKIDs) are a promising path towards combining the excellent noise performance of traditional bolometers with an RF multiplexing architecture that enables the large detector counts needed for the next generation of millimeter wave instruments. In this work, we present dark prototype TKID pixels that achieve background limited noise performance in the 150...
Superspec is an on-chip spectrometer for millimeter and sub-millimeter spectroscopy, with large instantaneous bandwidth (190 - 310 GHz) and moderate resolution (R ∼ 300). By using an on-chip filterbank composed of microstrip resonant filters, instead of dispersive optics, and superconducting Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs), Superspec is able to implement a spectrometer on less than 20...
The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter imaging polarimeter which will map the polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust, revealing magnetic field structures in nearby giant molecular clouds, external galaxies and the diffuse interstellar medium in three bands centered at 250, 350 and 500 microns (spatial resolution of 30,...
A wideband, large field-of-view (sub)millimeter wave imaging spectrometer is the key technology for uncovering dust-enshrouded cosmic star formation and galaxy evolution over cosmic time. Here we report the first astronomical signal captured with an integrated superconducting spectrometer (ISS): a spectrometer that uses a small superconducting integrated circuit for dispersing the signal to...
