26-179 Development of a readout system for large optical MKID arrays

Mission

Microwave Kinetic Inductace Detector (MKIDs) is a inductance-capacitor oscillating circuit made from superconducting material. superconducting material. The arrival of photons causes a change in the characteristic frequency and the phase of the circuit. From this change, it is possible to detect the arrival of the photon, and, with a suitable calibration, to infer its energy. These detectors can be operated in photon-counting mode and open the possibility to perform spectrophotometry without inserting any dispersive element in the optical path. MKID frequency multiplexing enables the implementation of arrays comprising several 

thousand pixels, which can be read in parallel by a single reading line. Here, each pixel, or LC circuit, has its own resonant frequency. MKIDs are an innovative detection technology that will open up a wide range of applications in astronomy et astrophysics. Since 2020, we have been developing at Paris Observatory the fir...