The kinetic inductance detector (KID) — also known as a microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) — is a type of

superconducting Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

photon A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless, so they alwa ...

detector first developed by scientists at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

and the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, La Cañada Flintridge, California ...

in 2003. These devices operate at

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

temperatures, typically below 1

kelvin The kelvin, symbol K, is the primary unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms and the degree Celsius. It is named after the Belfast-born and University of Glasgow-based engineer and ...

. They are being developed for high-sensitivity

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...

detection for frequencies ranging from the far-infrared to

X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nbs ...

Principle of operation

Photons incident on a strip of

material break Cooper pairs and create excess quasiparticles. The

kinetic inductance Kinetic inductance is the manifestation of the inertial mass of mobile charge carriers in alternating electric fields as an equivalent series inductance. Kinetic inductance is observed in high carrier mobility conductors (e.g. superconductors) a ...

of the superconducting strip is inversely proportional to the density of Cooper pairs, and thus the kinetic inductance increases upon photon absorption. This inductance is combined with a

capacitor A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals. The effect of ...

to form a

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...

whose resonant frequency changes with the absorption of photons. This resonator-based readout is useful for developing large-format detector arrays, as each KID can be addressed by a single microwave tone and many detectors can be measured using a single broadband microwave channel, a technique known as

frequency-division multiplexing In telecommunications, frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) is a technique by which the total bandwidth available in a communication medium is divided into a series of non-overlapping frequency bands, each of which is used to carry a separat ...

Applications

KIDs are being developed for a range of

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

applications, including millimeter and submillimeter wavelength detection at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, the

Atacama Pathfinder Experiment The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) is a radio telescope 5,064 meters above sea level, at the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory in the Atacama desert in northern Chile, 50 km east of San Pedro de Atacama built and operated by 3 European ...

(APEX) on the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory, the CCAT Observatory, and the

IRAM 30-m The IRAM 30-meter telescope is a radio telescope used for astronomical observations in the millimeter range of wavelengths, operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range (IRAM) and located in the Sierra Nevada, Spain, clos ...

telescope. They are also being developed for optical and near-infrared detection at the

Palomar Observatory Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

. Since their ability to be frequency-division multiplexed allows KIDs to achieve small detector package sizes, KIDs have also gained popularity in airborne balloon astrophysics as a more compact and less massive alternative to

transition edge sensors A transition-edge sensor (TES) is a type of cryogenic energy sensor or cryogenic particle detector that exploits the strongly temperature-dependent resistance of the superconducting phase transition. History The first demonstrations of the super ...

References

External links

SRON website on kinetic inductance detectors

YouTube video on kinetic inductance from MIT
* {{cite journal , last=Champlin , first=K.S. , last2=Armstrong , first2=D.B. , last3=Gunderson , first3=P.D. , title=Charge carrier inertia in semiconductors , journal=Proceedings of the IEEE , publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , volume=52 , issue=6 , year=1964 , issn=0018-9219 , doi=10.1109/proc.1964.3049 , pages=677–685 Superconducting detectors Radiometry Sensors Particle detectors

Principle of operation

Applications

See also

References

External links