11–13 May 2026
Roma
Europe/Rome timezone

SMuRF and SPECTRA: scalable readout for superconducting dark matter sensors

12 May 2026, 17:45
25m
Roma

Roma

Centro Congressi d'Ateneo, Via Salaria 113, 00198 Roma

Speaker

Zeesh Ahmed (Kavli Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, SLAC/Stanford)

Description

The SLAC Microresonator RF (SMuRF) electronics is a warm readout platform deployed at scale in CMB experiments to drive ~2000-channel microwave SQUID multiplexed transition-edge sensor arrays. Building on this foundation, the platform is being extended to support a broader range of superconducting sensors relevant to dark matter and rare-event searches, including fast pulse reconstruction in low-mass calorimeters, continuous-wave dispersive monitoring of qubit-based sensors such as SQUATs and QPDs, and pulse-driven control of single microwave photon detectors. I will review SMuRF and show recent results from operation with other sensing modalities, including MKIDs and SQUATs on RFSoC-based prototypes. I will then introduce SPECTRA, a multi-institutional effort with Fermilab (QICK), the University of Chicago, and partner groups across the dark matter and line-intensity-mapping user communities. SPECTRA will be a fully RFSoC-based, multi-mode open-source stack running on evaluation boards, QICK hardware, and ATCA-deployable carriers.

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.