The Kinetic Inductance Spectrophotometry Project at NIST is developing advanced superconducting detector technologies for next-generation hyperspectral imaging. The project focuses on overcoming challenges with current TES microcalorimeter readout techniques that require SQUIDs, particularly for large arrays and fast detectors.
The team has developed the Kinetic Inductance Current Sensor (KICS), a superconducting readout technology that replaces SQUIDs in TES circuits. KICS uses a superconducting resonator with a thin inductor that exploits the nonlinear current dependence of kinetic inductance in superconductors. A prototype KICS device has demonstrated energy resolution matching SQUID readouts.
Another variation, the Charged Particle Thermal Kinetic Inductance Detector (CP-TKID), is being explored for quantum information science and nuclear physics applications. CP-TKIDs are being tested in environments representative of superconducting quantum computers to study qubit decoherence sources. Future measurements will use NIST’s Center for Neutron Research to investigate fundamental nuclear physics symmetries.
The project has received the 2021 Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship in Astrophysics for Early Career Researchers, led by Paul Szypryt, for their work on kinetic inductance spectrophotometry technologies.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/kinetic-inductance-spectrophotometry
Keywords: superconducting, quantum, inductance, resonator, calorimeter
