Superconducting millimetre-wave cameras

Publication date: Available online 19 May 2017 Source:Comptes Rendus Physique Author(s): Alessandro Monfardini I present a review of the developments in kinetic inductance detectors (KID) for mm-wave and THz imaging-polarimetry in the framework of the Grenoble collaboration. The main application that we have targeted so far is large field-of-view astronomy. I focus in particular on our own experiment: NIKA2 (Néel IRAM KID Arrays). NIKA2 is today the largest millimetre camera available to the astronomical community for general purpose observations. It consists of a dual-band, dual-polarisation, multi-thousands pixels system installed at the IRAM 30-m telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain). I start with a general introduction covering the underlying physics and the KID working principle. Then I describe briefly the instrument and the detectors, to conclude with examples of pictures taken on the Sky by NIKA2 and its predecessor, NIKA. Thanks to these results, together with the relative simplicity and low cost of the KID fabrication, industrial applications requiring passive millimetre-THz imaging have now become possible.

Source: Comptes Rendus Physique - May 20, 2017 Category: Physics Source Type: research