Abstract
The Balloon Experiment for Galactic INfrared Science (BEGINS) is a concept for a sub-orbital observatory that will operate from \(\lambda\) = 25 to 250 \(\upmu\)m to characterize dust in the vicinity of high-mass stars. The mission’s sensitivity requirements will be met by utilizing arrays of 1840 lens-coupled, lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) operating at 300 mK. Each KID will consist of a titanium nitride (TiN) parallel strip absorbing inductive section and parallel plate capacitor deposited on a Silicon (Si) substrate. The parallel plate capacitor geometry allows for reduction of the pixel spacing. At the BEGINS focal plane, the detectors require optical NEPs from \(2\times 10^{-16}\) to \(6\times 10^{-17}\) W/\(\sqrt{\text {Hz}}\) from 25 to 250 \(\upmu\)m for optical loads ranging from 4 to 10 pW. We present the design, optical performance and quasiparticle lifetime measurements of a prototype BEGINS KID array at 25 \(\upmu\)m when coupled to Fresnel zone plate lenses. For our optical set up and the absorption efficiency of the KIDs, the electrical NEP requirement at 25 \(\upmu\)m is \(7.6\times 10^{-17}\) W/\(\sqrt{\text {Hz}}\) for an absorbed optical power of 0.36 pW. We find that over an average of five resonators the the detectors are photon noise limited down to about 200 fW, with a limiting NEP of about \(7.4\times 10^{-17}\) W/\(\sqrt{\text {Hz}}\). Future arrays will be coupled to microlens arrays and have higher optical efficiencies.
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Notes
Plots of fits to the data can be found in Joanna Perido’s dissertation, Kinetic Inductance Detectors and Metal-Mesh Filters for Far-Infrared Astronomy Section 5.2.2 [13].
The KID inductor absorption efficiency was electromagnetically simulated using ANSYS High Frequency Structure Simulator (https://www.ansys.com/products/electronics/ansys-hfss).
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Acknowledgements
Portions of this research were carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California 214 Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA (80NM0018D0004). This work was also supported by internal grants at NASA GSFC. Joanna Perido was supported by the NASA Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science. Nicholas F. Cothard was supported by the NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship at NASA GSFC.
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Joanna Perido wrote the main manuscript. Peter Day and Nicholas Cothard reviewed the manuscript. Measurements were performed by Joanna Perido and Byeoung H. Eom. Figure 1 was provided by Peter Day and Henry Leduc. Figures 2–5 were prepared by Joanna Perido. Jason Glenn was the lead PI. Device was fabricated by Henry Leduc and Andrew B. Steven Hailey-Dunsheath helped with derivation of Eq. 3.
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Perido, J., Day, P.K., Beyer, A.D. et al. Parallel-Plate Capacitor Titanium Nitride Kinetic Inductance Detectors for Infrared Astronomy. J Low Temp Phys (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-024-03101-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-024-03101-5