Project C7

Project leaders: Honingh, Netty (PH1); Graf, Urs (PH1)

This sub-project proposes the development of a superconducting on-chip filter bank at submm frequencies, present design goal being about an octave bandwidth around 300 GHz and a frequency resolution goal of 1000, doing design, fabrication development, test and evaluation all in house. Included is the development of Microwave Kinetic Inductor Detectors (MKID) as technologically compatible integrated detectors for this filter bank, which have a promising sensitivity and have proven to be easy to multiplex. As the purpose of this subproject is the development of an instrument for surveys predominantly at high Z, from the CCAT-prime observatory, the developed filter bank must be coupled to the sky signal with the best possible efficiency, and in such a way, that allows the multiplication into a many pixel instrument, with every pixel a complete filter bank with detectors. The read-out of such an instrument of course requires a substantial digital development which is done in a separate sub project C8.

References

  1. Blauth, “Design and measurement of superconducting microwave kinetic inductance detectors”, PhD-thesis (2019).
  2. Büchel, Pütz, Jacobs, Schultz, Graf, Risacher, Richter, Ricken, et al., “4.7-THz Superconducting Hot Electron Bolometer Waveguide Mixer”, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology 5, 207 (2015).
  3. Graf, Honingh, Jacobs, and Stutzki, “Terahertz Heterodyne Array Receivers for Astronomy”, Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves 36, 896 (2015).
  4. Risacher, Güsten, Stutzki, Hübers, Büchel, Graf, Heyminck, Honingh, et al., “First Supra-THz Hetero- dyne Array Receivers for Astronomy With the SOFIA Observatory”, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology 6, 199 (2016).
  5. Westig, Jacobs, Stutzki, Schultz, Justen, and Honingh, C.E., “Balanced superconductor-insulator- superconductor mixer on a 9 μm silicon membrane”, Supercon. Sci Tech 24, 85012 (2011).
  6. Westig, Justen, Jacobs, Stutzki, Schultz, Schomacker, and Honingh, “A 490 GHz planar circuit balanced Nb–Al2O3–Nb quasiparticle mixer for radio astronomy: Application to quantitative local oscillator noise determination”, Journal of Applied Physics 112, 1 (2012).