DESHIMA on ASTE: On-Sky Responsivity Calibration of the Integrated Superconducting Spectrometer

We are developing an ultra-wideband spectroscopic instrument, DESHIMA (DEep Spectroscopic HIgh-redshift MApper), based on the technologies of an on-chip filter bank and microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) to investigate dusty starburst galaxies in the distant universe at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. An on-site experiment of...

Wideband on-chip terahertz spectrometer based on a superconducting filterbank

Terahertz spectrometers with a wide instantaneous frequency coverage for passive remote sensing are enormously attractive for many terahertz applications, such as astronomy, atmospheric science, and security. Here we demonstrate a wide-band terahertz spectrometer based on a single superconducting chip. The chip consists of an antenna coupled...

First light demonstration of the integrated superconducting spectrometer

Ultra-wideband, three-dimensional (3D) imaging spectrometry in the millimeter–submillimeter (mm–submm) band is an essential tool for uncovering the dust-enshrouded portion of the cosmic history of star formation and galaxy evolution^1–3. However, it is challenging to scale up conventional coherent heterodyne receivers⁴ or...

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...

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...

Superconducting Coplanar Waveguide Filters for Submillimeter Wave On-Chip Filterbank Spectrometers

We show the first experimental results which prove that superconducting NbTiN coplanar–waveguide resonators can achieve a loaded Q factor in excess of 800 in the 350 GHz band. These resonators can be used as narrow band pass filters for on-chip filter bank spectrometers for astronomy. Moreover, the low-loss coplanar waveguide technology provides...

High optical efficiency and photon noise limited sensitivity of microwave kinetic inductance detectors using phase readout

We demonstrate photon noise limited performance in both phase and amplitude readout in microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) consisting of NbTiN and Al, down to 100 fW of optical power. We simulate the far field beam pattern of the lens-antenna system used to couple radiation into the MKID and derive an aperture efficiency of 75%. This...

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...

Microwave-induced excess quasiparticles in superconducting resonators measured through correlated conductivity fluctuations

We have measured the number of quasiparticles and their lifetime in aluminium superconducting microwave resonators. The number of excess quasiparticles below 160?mK decreases from 72 to 17??m?3 with a 6?dB decrease of the microwave power. The quasiparticle lifetime increases accordingly from 1.4 to 3.5?ms. These properties of the superconductor...

Design of an integrated filterbank for DESHIMA: On-chip submillimeter imaging spectrograph based on superconducting resonators

An integrated filterbank (IFB) in combination with microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), both based on superconducting resonators, could be used to make broadband submillimeter imaging spectrographs that are compact and flexible. In order to investigate the possibility of adopting an IFB configuration for DESHIMA (Delft SRON High...

Generation-recombination noise: The fundamental sensitivity limit for kinetic inductance detectors

We present measurements of quasiparticle generation-recombination noise in aluminium Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors, the fundamental noise source for these detectors. Both the quasiparticle lifetime and the number of quasiparticles can be determined from the noise spectra. The number of quasiparticles saturates to 10 ?m?3 at temperatures...

Power handling and responsivity of submicron wide superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators

The sensitivity of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) based on coplanar waveguides (CPWs) needs to be improved by at least an order of magnitude to satisfy the requirements for space-based terahertz astronomy. Our aim is to investigate if this can be achieved by reducing the width of the CPW to much below what has typically been made...

Number Fluctuations of Sparse Quasiparticles in a Superconductor

We have directly measured quasiparticle number fluctuations in a thin film superconducting Al resonator in thermal equilibrium. The spectrum of these fluctuations provides a measure of both the density and the lifetime of the quasiparticles. We observe that the quasiparticle density decreases exponentially with decreasing temperature, as...

Reduced frequency noise in superconducting resonators

We report a reduction in the frequency noise in coplanar waveguide superconducting resonators. The reduction of 7 dB is achieved by removing the exposed dielectric substrate surface from the region with high electric fields and by using NbTiN. In a model-analysis the surface of NbTiN is found to be a negligible source of noise, experimentally...

Minimal resonator loss for circuit quantum electrodynamics

We report quality factors of up to 500x10³ in superconducting resonators at the single photon levels needed for circuit quantum electrodynamics. This result is achieved by using NbTiN and removing the dielectric from regions with high electric fields. As demonstrated by a comparison with Ta, the crucial sources of intensity-dependent loss are...