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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2019

Fabrication of Phononic-Isolated Kinetic Inductance Detectors

Kinetic inductance detectors (KID) have received increased interest due to their relative ease of fabrication, low noise, and scalability to large format arrays required by next generation of astronomical telescopes. The development of KIDs has progressed rapidly, with very low noise equivalent power demonstrated by several groups and KIDs arrays implemented in several ground-based and air-borne instruments. In this paper, we describe a new fabrication process which consists of a membrane isolated KID incorporating a phononic bandgap structure tuned to block recombination phonons from escaping to the thermal bath. This architecture is designed to increase the quasi-particle lifetime and results in increased responsivity to signal photons and lower noise. These devices have been fabricated as lumped-element resonators with hafnium inductors and Nb capacitors on low stress silicon nitride and silicon-on-insulator membranes. We discuss the fabrication process, which uses a combination of sub-micron laser based direct write lithography and nanoscale electron beam lithography.

Denis, Kevin L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simulating the Phonon Collection Efficiency in Kinetic Inductance Phonon-Mediated Detectors

Kinetic inductance phonon-mediated (KIPM) detectors use microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) to read out phonon signals in the substrate. They are a promising class of detectors to be used in light dark matter (DM) searches due to their potential eV-scale sensitivity and native frequency-domain multiplexability. In order to improve upon the design of these detectors, simulations are needed to understand the effects of detector design on measurable physical parameters including the phonon collection efficiency, $\eta_{ph}$, which is defined as the ratio of phonon energy detected by the sensitive target element to the incident energy deposited in the substrate. This work simulates the phonon collection efficiency for two existing detector architectures to study phonon absorption at substrate-sensor interfaces and phonon loss to non-sensitive detector elements.

Dang, Stella Q.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Dispersion-Engineered Traveling Wave Kinetic Inductance Parametric Amplifier

A traveling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier comprises a superconducting transmission line and a dispersion control element. The transmission line can include periodic variations of its dimension along its length. The superconducting material can include a high normal state resistivity material. In some instances the high normal state resistivity material includes nitrogen and a metal selected from the group consisting of titanium, niobium and vanadium. The traveling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier is expected to exhibit a noise temperature below 100 mK/GHz.

Zmuidzinas, Jonas↗
NASA NTRS1970

Kinetic inductance measured in a superconducting wire

Ultrasensitive technique to measure kinetic inductance has test specimen included as part of the inductance of a tank circuit of a tunnel diode oscillator. Frequency counter measures shift in frequency of oscillator, caused by changes in inductance. Frequency shift in tank circuit is proportional to change in kinetic inductance

Meservey, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Kinetic Inductance Photodetectors Based on Nonequilibrium Response in Superconducting Thin-Film Structures

While experimental studies of kinetic-inductance sensors have been limited so far by the temperature range near the superconducting transition, these detectors can be very sensitivity at temperatures well below the transition, where the number of equilibrium quasiparticles is exponentially small. In this regime, a shift of the quasiparticle chemical potential under radiation results in the change of the kinetic inductance, which can be measured by a sensitive SQUID readout. We modeled the kinetic inductance response of detectors made from disordered superconducting Nb, NbC, and MoRe films. Low phonon transparency of the interface between the superconductor and the substrate causes substantial re-trapping of phonons providing high quantum efficiency and the operating time of approximately 1 ms at 1 K. Due to the small number of quasiparticles, the noise equivalent power of the detector determined by the quasiparticle generation-recombination noise can be as small as approximately 10(exp -19) W/Hz(exp 1/2) at He4 temperatures.

Sergeev, A. V.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Design, Fabrication, and Testing of Lumped Element Kinetic inductance Detectors for 3 mm CMB Observations

Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) are a promising technology for low-noise, highly-multiplexible mm- and submm-wave detection. KIDs have a number of advantages over other detector technologies, which make them an appealing option in the cosmic microwave background B-mode anisotropy search, including passive frequency domain multiplexing and relatively simple fabrication, but have suffered from challenges associated with noise control. Here we describe design and fabrication of a 20-pixel prototype array of lumped element molybdenum KIDs. We show Q, frequency and temperature measurements from the array under dark conditions. We also present evidence for a double superconducting gap in molybdenum.

cosmic microwave background↗
DOE OSTI2024

Performance of a phonon-mediated kinetic inductance detector at the NEXUS cryogenic facility

Microcalorimeters that leverage microwave kinetic inductance detectors to read out phonon signals in the particle-absorbing target, referred to as kinetic inductance phonon-mediated (KIPM) detectors, offer an attractive detector architecture to probe dark matter (DM) down to the fermionic thermal relic mass limit. A prototype KIPM detector featuring a single aluminum resonator patterned onto a 1-gram silicon substrate was operated in the Northwestern EXerimental Underground Site (NEXUS) low-background facility at Fermilab for characterization and evaluation of this detector architecture’s efficacy for a DM search. An energy calibration was performed by exposing the bare substrate to a pulsed source of 470-nm photons, resulting in a baseline resolution on the energy absorbed by the phonon sensor of 2.1 ± 0.2 eV, a factor of two better than the current state of the art, enabled by quasiparticle lifetimes extending up to 6.5 ms. However, due to the subpercent phonon collection efficiency, the resolution on energy deposited in the substrate is limited to σ E = 318 ± 29 eV. We further model both the signal pulse shape as a function of device temperature to extract quasiparticle lifetimes, and the observed noise spectra.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS2013

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector with Selective Polarization Coupling

A conventional low-noise detector requires a technique to both absorb incident power and convert it to an electrical signal at cryogenic temperatures. This innovation combines low-noise detector and readout functionality into one device while maintaining high absorption, controlled polarization sensitivity, and broadband detection capability. The resulting far-infrared detectors can be read out with a simple approach, which is compact and minimizes thermal loading. The proposed microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) consists of three basic elements. The first is the absorptive section in which the incident power is coupled to a superconducting resonator at far-infrared frequency above its superconducting critical frequency (where superconductor becomes normal conductor). This absorber's shape effectively absorbs signals in the desired polarization state and is resonant at the radio frequency (RF) used for readout of the device. Control over the metal film used in the absorber allows realization of structures with either a 50% broadband or 100% resonance absorptance over a 30% fractional bandwidth. The second element is a microwave resonator - which is realized from the thin metal films used to make the absorber as transmission lines - whose resonance frequency changes due to a variation in its kinetic inductance. The resonator's kinetic inductance is a function of the power absorbed by the device. A low-loss dielectric (mono-crystalline silicon) is used in a parallel-plate transmission line structure to realize the desired superconducting resonators. There is negligible coupling among the adjacent elements used to define the polarization sensitivity of each detector. The final component of the device is a microwave transmission line, which is coupled to the resonator, and allows detection of changes in resonance frequency for each detector in the focal plane array. The spiral shape of the detector's absorber allows incident power with two polarizations to couple to the detector equally. A stepped impedance resonator was used that allows the incident power absorbed in the detecting membrane area to be uniformly distributed in the detector's transmission line at the RF readout frequency. This maximizes the sensitivity of the detector. The signal is read out via a frequency multiplexing technique that requires a minimum number of interface transmission lines for readout. This reduces the packaging complexity and coupling to the device's thermal environment.

Wollack, Edward↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modeling and Optimizing Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors for the EXCLAIM Mission

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) are highly scalable detectors that have demonstrated background-limited sensitivity in space-like infrared environments. The detectors have a rich design space with many optimizable parameters, allowing high sensitivity measurements over a wide dynamic range. For these reasons, MKIDs are the chosen detectors for the Experiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM), a balloon-based telescope targeting nearly background-limited performance from 420- 540 GHz. We present an update on the design and measurements of the EXCLAIM MKID-spectrometer system, with a particular focus on microwave-induced pair-breaking and TLS noise. We have performed dark tests using a test detector, accurately describing the data through an MKID model mainly following existing literature with slight variations in TLS-fitting. We also review the overall architecture of the EXCLAIM detectors-spectrometer system, including an R=512 𝜇-Spec integrated spectrometer. This MKID-spectrometer system not only enables EXCLAIM with groundbreaking sensitivities to the astrophysical signal, but it also provides a critical pathfinder for future far-IR telescopes that may benefit from these technologies.

Trevor Mackintosh Oxholm↗
NASA NTRS2024

Dual-Resonator Kinetic-Inductance Detector for Distinction between Signal and 1/ƒ Frequency Noise

Astronomical kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs), similar to quantum information devices, experience performance-limiting noise from materials. In particular, 1/ƒ (frequency) noise arises from two-level system defects (TLSs) in the circuit dielectrics and material interfaces and can be a dominant noise mechanism. Here, we present a dual-resonator KID (DuRKID), which is designed for improved noise-equivalent power relative to standard 1/ƒ -noise-limited KIDs. In this study we present the DuRKID schematic, a fabricated example, our first measurement results, a theoretical model including 1/ƒ noise, and a system-noise model containing additional noise sources. The circuit consists of two superconducting resonators sharing an electrical capacitance bridge of four capacitors, each of which hosts TLSs. The device is intended to operate using hybridization of the modes, which causes TLSs to either couple to one mode or the other, depending upon which capacitor they reside in. In contrast, the signal will affect a resonator inductance and, due to mode hybridization, this causes correlated frequency changes in both modes. Therefore, one can better distinguish the photon signal from the TLS frequency noise. To achieve hybridization, a TiN inductor is current biased to allow tuning of one bare-resonator mode into degeneracy with the other. Measurements show that the resonator modes hybridize as expected. The inter-resonator coupling and unintentional coupling of the two resonators to transmission lines are also characterized in measurements. A quantum information-science model allows device-parameter extraction from experimental data and a 1/ƒ noise analysis with uncorrelated noise. A system-noise analysis of the DuRKID, with comparisons to standard KIDs, is performed with generation-recombination noise and amplifier noise. The study reveals that the DuRKID can exhibit a large performance advantage over TLS-limited KID detectors.

N Forouzani↗
NASA NTRS2016

Symmetric Absorber-Coupled Far-Infrared Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector

The present invention relates to a symmetric absorber-coupled far-infrared microwave kinetic inductance detector including: a membrane having an absorber disposed thereon in a symmetric cross bar pattern; and a microstrip including a plurality of conductor microstrip lines disposed along all edges of the membrane, and separated from a ground plane by the membrane. The conducting microstrip lines are made from niobium, and the pattern is made from a superconducting material with a transition temperature below niobium, including one of aluminum, titanium nitride, or molybdenum nitride. The pattern is disposed on both a top and a bottom of the membrane, and creates a parallel-plate coupled transmission line on the membrane that acts as a half-wavelength resonator at readout frequencies. The parallel-plate coupled transmission line and the conductor microstrip lines form a stepped impedance resonator. The pattern provides identical power absorption for both horizontal and vertical polarization signals.

U-yen, Kongpop↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tuning Kinetic Inductance with Doping in Superconducting Electron Gases at the KTaO 3 (111) Interface

We used coplanar waveguide resonators fabricated from the two-dimensional superconductor formed at KTaO 3 (111) interfaces to characterize the superconductor’s sheet kinetic inductance L K/□ . Upon varying the carrier density, in samples with T c ranging from 0.62 to 1.81 K, we can tune L K/□ between 1.88 and 7.42 nH/□ at the lowest temperatures, exceeding the highest values reported for granular aluminum films. The temperature dependence of L K/□ is consistent with a superconducting gap without nodes. The high L K/□ of superconducting KTaO 3 (111) interfacial electron gases combined with the high dielectric constant of KTaO 3 results in resonators with exceedingly low phase velocities (“slow light”) and small mode volumes. In addition, superconducting KTaO 3 (111) interfacial electron gases are robust in magnetic fields well above a Tesla. In conclusion, these features can enable unique device applications in superconducting electronics and quantum information science.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1989

Progress in kinetic inductance thermometers for X-ray calorimeters

Conventional X-ray microcalorimeters have so far used ionimplanted resistors for thermometers. Recently, however, several new methods for sensing small temperature changes have been suggested that are nondissipative. Such devices may have intrinsically better energy resolution by eliminating the Johnson noise present in resistive devices. The use of kinetic inductance thermometers for X-ray microcalorimeters is being investigated. This technique exploits the strong temperature dependence of magnetic penetration depth of thin superconducting films. The prototype system, designed for operation at 1.5 K, uses films of aluminum and tin. Once the expected temperature sensitivity and alpha particle detection have been demonstrated, aluminum will be replaced with titanium or another material with a suitable critical temperature and the device will be operated at 0.3 K. At this temperature, the energy resolution from thermal noise should be sufficiently good to allow X-ray detection.

Rawley, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Kinetic Induction of Oat Shoot Pulvinus Invertase mRNA by Gravistimulation and Partial cDNA Cloning by the Polymerase Chain Reaction

An asymmetric (top vs. bottom halves of pulvini) induction of invertase mRNA by gravistimulation was analyzed in oat shoot pulvini. Total RNA and poly(A)(+) RNA, isolated from oat pulvini, and two oli-gonucleotide primers, corresponding to two conserved amino acid sequences (NDPNG and WECPD) found in invertase from other species, were used for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A partial length cDNA (550 bp) was obtained and characterized. A 62% nucleotide sequence homology and 58% deduced amino acid sequence homology, as compared to beta-fructosidase of carrot cell wall, was found. Northern blot analysis showed that there was an obviously transient induction of invertase mRNA by gravistimulation in the oat pulvinus system. The mRNA was rapidly induced to a maximum level at 1 hour after gravistimulation treatment and gradually decreased afterwards. The mRNA level in the bottom half of the oat pulvinus was significantly higher than that in the top half of the pulvinus tissue. The kinetic induction of invertase mRNA was consistent with the transient accumulation of invertase activity during the graviresponse of the pulvinus. This indicates that the expression of the invertase gene(s) could be regulated by gravistimulation at the transcriptional level. Southern blot analysis showed that there were two to three genomic DNA fragments which hybridized with the partial-length invertase cDNA.

Wu, Liu-Lai↗
DOE OSTI2026

A cryogenic muon tagging system based on kinetic inductance detectors for superconducting quantum processors

Ionizing radiation has emerged as a potential limiting factor for superconducting quantum processors, inducing quasiparticle bursts and correlated errors that challenge fault-tolerant operation. Atmospheric muons are particularly problematic due to their high energy and penetration power, making passive shielding ineffective. Therefore, monitoring the real-time muon flux is crucial to guide the development of alternative error-correction or mitigation strategies. We present the design, simulation, and first operation of a cryogenic muon-tagging system based on kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs), developed as a stand-alone cryogenic particle-tagging module for superconducting quantum processors. The system consists of two KIDs arranged in a vertical stack and operated at ∼20 mK. Monte Carlo simulations based on Geant4 guided the prototype design and provided reference expectations for muon-tagging efficiency and accidental coincidences due to ambient γ-rays. We observed a muon-induced coincidence rate among the top and bottom detectors of (192 ± 9) $\times\,10^{-3}$ events s$^{−1}$, in excellent agreement with the Monte Carlo prediction. The prototype achieves a muon-tagging efficiency of about 90% with negligible dead time. These results demonstrate the feasibility of operating a muon-tagging system at millikelvin temperatures and represent a key step toward the integration of cryogenic veto systems with multi-qubit chips to mitigate muon-induced errors.

Mariani, Ambra [INFN, Rome] (ORCID:000000028184857↗
DOE OSTI2025

Investigation of kinetic inductance and microwave loss in thin-film TaC x N 1−x superconducting resonators

The promise of tantalum for realizing superconducting quantum devices has generated interest in its compound films, particularly nitrides. Among these, cubic-phase tantalum carbonitride (TaC x N 1−x ) offers reduced susceptibility to oxidation and a high critical temperature, yet its microwave properties remain largely unexplored. Here, in this study, we investigate plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of cubic-phase TaC x N 1−x thin films for superconducting microwave circuits. Structural and transport measurements reveal nanocrystalline morphology with sub-10 nm grains and superconductivity in the dirty limit. Coplanar waveguide resonators exhibit moderately high kinetic inductance (16.8 pH/sq for 30 nm films) with potential for enhancement through dimensional scaling. The films also support high internal quality factors exceeding 10 5 at 50 mK in the single-photon regime, comparable to granular aluminum. Loss analysis identifies the two-level systems as the dominant limiting mechanism, with potential for further reduction through interface engineering. These results establish atomic layer deposited TaC x N 1−x as a promising material for scalable, low-loss, high-inductance superconducting circuits.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗