Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) are superconducting detectors capable of counting single photons and measuring their energy in the UV, optical, and near-IR. MKIDs feature intrinsic frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) at microwave frequencies, allowing the construction and readout of large arrays. Due to the microwave FDM, MKIDs do not require the complex cryogenic multiplexing el...

We present results from a demonstration camera using Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) (Day et al. in Nature 425, 817–821, 2003) at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. The focal plane consists of 16 two-color (240 and 350 GHz) pixels. Each pixel is a phased-array of slot dipole antenna whose output power is coupled to MKIDs via in-line color-defining bandpass filters. A prototyp...

We report on the use of a kinetic-inductance traveling-wave parametric amplifier (KITWPA) as first in readout chain microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer (umux). This umux is designed to multiplex signals from arrays low temperature detectors such transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters. When modulated with periodic flux-ramp linearize SQUID response, flux n...

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) are superconducting detectors that sense the change in the surface impedance of a thin superconducting film when Cooper Pairs are broken by using a high quality factor resonant circuit. We are developing strip detectors that have aluminum MKID sensors on both ends of a rectangular tantalum strip. These devices can provide one dimensional spatial im...

Noise performance is one of the most crucial aspects of any detector. Superconducting Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) have an “excess” frequency noise that shows up as a small time dependent jitter of the resonance frequency characterized by the frequency noise power spectrum measured in units of Hz/Hz. Recent studies have shown that this noise almost certainly originates from a ...

We develop a photon energy measurement scheme for single counting Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) that uses principal component analysis (PCA) to measure the of an incident from signal ("photon pulse") generated by detector. PCA can be used characterize pulse using arbitrarily large number features and therefore PCA-based does not rely on assumption energy-independent shape is ma...

We have studied the kinetic inductance fraction (ratio of kinetic inductance to total inductance) of superconducting coplanar waveguides (CPWs) by measuring the resonance frequency of CPW transmission line resonators. We describe a procedure for accurately determining the kinetic inductance of transmission line geometries with small kinetic inductance fractions. In this approach, we compare the...

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) are thin-film, superconducting resonators, which are attractive for making large detector arrays due to their natural frequency domain multiplexing at GHz frequencies. For X-ray to IR wavelengths, MKIDs can provide high-resolution energy and timing information for each incoming photon. By fabricating strip detectors consisting of a rectangular abso...