Sub-mm-Wave Superconducting On-Chip Filter Bank for Astronomy

A superconducting on-chip microstrip filter bank spectrometer prototype for Far-Infrared (FIR) Astronomy is presented. The measurements showcase its capabilities towards moderate spectral resolution (f/\Delta f\sim 500) broadband FIR spectroscopy. In this sub-mm-wave filter bank, each spectral channel consists of an 'I-shaped' microstrip THz...

Mitigation of cosmic ray effect on microwave kinetic inductance detector arrays

For space observatories, the glitches caused by high energy phonons created by the interaction of cosmic ray particles with a detector substrate lead to dead time during observation. Mitigating the impact of cosmic rays is therefore an important requirement for detectors to be used in future space missions. In order to investigate possible...

Fabrication and performance verification of a 961 pixel Kinetic Inductance Detector system for future space borne observatories 9914-138

Astronomical observations at infrared, sub-millimetre, and millimetre wavelengths are essential for addressing many of the key questions in astrophysics. Future ground- and space based observatories need large detector arrays with a sensitivity limited only by the noise of the radiation background. We demonstrate that antenna coupled Microwave...

Experimentally simulating the dynamics of quantum light and matter at deep-strong coupling

The quantum Rabi model describing the fundamental interaction between light and matter is a cornerstone of quantum physics. It predicts exotic phenomena like quantum phase transitions and ground-state entanglement in ultrastrong and deep-strong coupling regimes, where coupling strengths are comparable to or larger than subsystem energies....

Reactive Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Superconducting Niobium Titanium Nitride Thin Films with Different Target Sizes

The superconducting critical temperature (T-\mathrm{c} > 15 K) of niobium titanium nitride (NbTiN) thin films allows for low-loss circuits up to 1.1 THz, enabling on-chip spectroscopy and multipixel imaging with advanced detectors. The drive for large-scale detector microchips is demanding NbTiN films with uniform properties over an...

A kilo-pixel imaging system for future space based far-infrared observatories using microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Aims. Future astrophysics and cosmic microwave background space missions operating in the far-infrared to millimetre part of the spectrum will require very large arrays of ultra-sensitive detectors in combination with high multiplexing factors and efficient low-noise and low-power readout systems. We have developed a demonstrator system suitable...

Probing the Nuclear Spin-Lattice Relaxation Time at the Nanoscale

Nuclear spin-lattice relaxation times are measured on copper using magnetic-resonance force microscopy performed at temperatures down to 42 mK. The low temperature is verified by comparison with the Korringa relation. Measuring spin-lattice relaxation times locally at very low temperatures opens up the possibility to measure the magnetic...

On-chip filter bank spectroscopy at 600–700?GHz using NbTiN superconducting resonators

We experimentally demonstrate the principle of an on-chip submillimeter wave filter bank spectrometer, using superconducting microresonators as narrow band-separation filters. The filters are made of NbTiN/SiNx/NbTiN microstrip line resonators, which have a resonance frequency in the range of 614-685?GHz, two orders of magnitude higher in...

Probing Dynamics of an Electron-Spin Ensemble via a Superconducting Resonator

We study spin relaxation and diffusion in an electron-spin ensemble of nitrogen impurities in diamond at low temperature (0.25–1.2 K) and polarizing magnetic field (80–300 mT). Measurements exploit field-controlled coupling of the ensemble to two modes of a transmission-line resonator. The observed temperature-independent spin relaxation time...

Intermediate frequency band digitized high dynamic range radiometer system for plasma diagnostics and real-time Tokamak control

An intermediate frequency (IF) band digitizing radiometer system in the 100–200 GHz frequency range has been developed for Tokamak diagnostics and control, and other fields of research which require a high flexibility in frequency resolution combined with a large bandwidth and the retrieval of the full wave information of the mm-wave signals...