Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) and the NIKA (New IRAM KID Arrays) project.

by Alessandro Monfardini (Institut Néel, CNRS & Université de Grenoble)

Monday 16 Feb 2015, 14:00 → 15:30 Europe/Rome

Aula Conversi (Dipartimento di Fisica - Ed. G. Marconi)

Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) are based on superconducting resonators. These last are classical devices used since the 1960s. It was however only about ten years ago that high performances micro-resonators, realised using thin films technologies, was practically demonstrated. In the easiest configuration, the detector consists merely in a single, but properly patterned, film. Superconductivity ensures both the ultra-low losses needed to achieve high quality factors and the sensitivity to incoming radiation thanks to the kinetic inductance effect. Starting from the basic detection principles, I will summarize the recent achievements in this exciting field. These include for example millimetre and sub-millimetre detectors for Astronomy, visible-NIR photon-counting cameras, high-energy photon/particles imagers. I will describe in more detail our main projects: NIKA (New IRAM KID Arrays) and NIKA2. NIKA, the first KID-based instrument open for proposals to the astronomical community, is installed at the IRAM 30-m millimetre telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain). Its successor, NIKA2, is in fabrication in Grenoble. I will briefly present selected results from the recent observational campaigns at the telescope and the status of NIKA2.