arXiv subjects

Adrian Sinclair

Publications and source records attributed to Adrian Sinclair.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

CCAT: Characterization of the first science-grade MKID array for the Prime-Cam 850 GHz module

The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) is a 6-meter crossed-Dragone telescope developed by the CCAT collaboration. Sited at 5600 m on Cerro Chajnantor in the Atacama Plateau of Chile, FYST aims to provide superior atmospheric transmission and a wide field of view for submillimeter observations. Prime-Cam is a first-generation instrument for FYST designed to house up to seven separate instrument modules. Among these, the 850 GHz module represents the highest-frequency band and is optimized for ultra-sensitive broadband polarimetry and imaging. This module is designed to deploy ~38,000 polarization-sensitive lumped-element titanium-nitride (TiN) microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) across three arrays. Thus the 850 GHz module will have the most submillimeter MKIDs in a single instrument module to date. These detectors have adopted a novel two-octave design to maximize the multiplexing achieved using a RFSoC readout system. We review the design parameters and fabrication process for the first 850 GHz science-grade array. The preliminary measurements of the array show a fabrication yield of 99%, highlighting the successful application of the design and fabrication process. We further present the cryogenic characterization of the first full MKID array developed for the Prime-Cam 850 GHz module. Multiple tests were performed on the devices including resonator frequency mapping, quality factor measurements, optical load sweeps and noise performance. From these measurements, we discuss the measured optical efficiency, sensitivity, and uniformity across the array and the expected on-sky performance of the module. The 850 GHz module will be deployed for observing in 2027.

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arXiv2026

CCAT: The 410 GHz camera module for FYST - design and testing of the MKID focal plane

Prime-Cam, the primary first-light instrument for the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) developed by the Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) Collaboration, will accommodate seven modules. Here we describe the off-central 410 GHz imager/polarimeter. The 410 GHz instrument is a camera module for CCAT funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, being developed as a collaboration between Dalhousie University, University of British Columbia (UBC), National Research Council (NRC) - Herzberg, and Duke University. With atmospheric loading in the 410 GHz window being significantly higher than at 350 GHz (but substantially lower than 850 GHz), we assess four MKID test devices with varying inductor volume for performance at 410 GHz. We propose a design for an array of ~6,700 horn-coupled TiN MKIDs optimized for use at 410 GHz, with a planned ~20,000 MKIDs over three arrays, exploring mapping speed versus detector number. We test the four MKID devices optically and assess optimal Qi/Qc and responsivity for the 410 GHz atmospheric window atop Cerro Chajnantor. The detectors will be designed in frequency to be efficiently readout with a second generation, two octave readout (based on the Xilinx RFSoC board), with over 4000 detectors per board.

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arXiv2026

An Open Source RFSoC-based Readout Electronics System for Arrays of Kinetic Inductance Detectors and Superconducting Resonators

We present a novel readout electronics system for large arrays of superconducting electromagnetic resonators, such as kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs), based on a Radio Frequency System on Chip (RFSoC) architecture. Each channel in the readout system is designed for frequency division multiplexing of up to 1024 high quality factor resonances placed on a single microwave transmission line at unique frequencies within a 512 MHz bandwidth. We describe the design of the digital and analog signal processing chains for the implementation of a two-channel 2048-resonator system on the Xilinx ZCU111 RFSoC evaluation board in combination with a custom intermediate frequency (IF) system to convert the RFSoC band to higher frequencies up to 4 GHz. We also detail an associated software interface that provides a range of tools commonly utilized for characterizing KID resonators and for operating them as part of a photometric millimeter-wave imager. We additionally provide noise characterizations of the individual readout components, along with the complete readout system in isolation and in operation to readout KID resonators.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Spaceflight KID Readout Electronics for PRIMA

We present the design and testing of a prototype multiplexing kinetic inductance detector (KID) readout electronics for the PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) space mission. PRIMA is a Probe-class astrophysics mission concept that will answer fundamental questions about the formation of planetary systems, the co-evolution of stars and supermassive black holes in galaxies, and the rise of heavy elements and dust over cosmic time. The readout electronics for PRIMA must be compatible with operation at Earth-Sun L2 and capable of multiplexing more than 1000 detectors over 2.5 GHz bandwidth while consuming around 30 W per readout chain. The electronics must also be capable of switching between the two instruments, which have different readout bands: the hyperspectral imager (PRIMAger, 2.6-4.9 GHz) and the spectrometer (FIRESS, 0.4-2.4 GHz). The PRIMA readout electronics use high-heritage SpaceCube digital electronics with a build-to-print SpaceCube Mini v3.0 board using a radiation-tolerant Kintex KU060 field programmable gate array (FPGA) and a custom high-speed digitizer board, along with RF electronics that provide filtering and power conditioning. We present the driving requirements for the system, as well as the hardware, firmware, software, and system-level design that meets those requirements.

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arXiv2025

Readout of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID) Arrays for Habitable Worlds Observatory Using a Polyphase Filterbank Algorithm

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a nextgeneration ultraviolet/optical/infrared space telescope, will require detector technologies capable of supporting substantially larger pixel-count arrays than those flown on previous missions. Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) provide a scalable solution through microwave multiplexing and have already been demonstrated in balloon-borne instruments using Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) for real-time signal processing. A central element of MKID readout is the Polyphase Filter Bank (PFB) spectrometer, which converts digitized timedomain signals into finely resolved frequency channels for subsequent analysis. To meet the demands for broader bandwidths and higher spectral resolution driven by emerging science goals, efficient FPGA-based implementations of the PFB are essential. This work presents current results from a fixed-point digital design methodology for deploying the PFB architecture on spacequalified FPGAs. The approach emphasizes efficient resource utilization and numerical precision while satisfying stringent performance constraints, enabling scalable, high-resolution spectral processing for future space observatories and remote sensing applications.

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arXiv2025

KID Detector Readout Electronics Development for Habitable Worlds Observatory

We present the status and goals of the readout electronics system we are developing to support the detector arrays in the coronagraph instrument on the NASA Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission currently in development. HWO aims to revolutionize exoplanet exploration by performing direct imaging and spectroscopy of 25 or more habitable exoplanets, and to resolve a broad range of astrophysics science questions as well. Since exoplanet yield depends critically on the detector dark count rate, as we show in this paper, the ambitious goals of HWO require arrays of single-photon energy-resolving detectors. We argue that Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) are best suited to meet these requirements. To support the detectors required for HWO and future far-IR missions, at the required power consumption and detector count, we are developing a radiation-tolerant reconfigurable readout system for both imaging and energy-resolving single photon KID detector arrays. We leverage an existing RFSoC-based system we built for NASA balloons that has a power consumption of 30 Watts and reads out 2000-4000 detectors (i.e. 7-15 mW/pixel), and move to a radiation tolerant Kintex Ultrascale FPGA chip to bring low-power wide bandwidth readout to a space-qualified platform for the first time. This improves significantly over previous spaceflight systems, and delivers what is required for NASA's future needs: ~100,000 pixels with less than 1 kW total power consumption. Overall, the system we are developing is a significant step forward in capability, and retires many key risks for the Habitable Worlds Observatory mission.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Development of Space Qualified Signal Processing Readout Electronics for HabWorlds and Origins Space Telescope Detector and Arrays

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) -- a flagship ultraviolet/optical/infrared space telescope recommended by the National Academies' Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics -- will require detector technologies capable of supporting significantly larger pixel-count arrays than previous missions. Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs), naturally suited to microwave multiplexing readout, are already in use across several balloon-borne missions with FPGA based systems. To transition this capability to space, we are developing a radiation-hardened detector readout system that builds directly on the technical and environmental requirements defined by the PRIMA mission. PRIMA serves as a critical pathfinder, informing the radiation tolerance, resource constraints, and on-board processing capabilities needed for HWO. In this work, we present our current results on algorithm implementation, hardware architecture, and firmware development using the radiation-hardened AMD Kintex Ultrascale FPGA, aligning with PRIMA's stringent specifications to ensure compatibility with future space-based observatories like HWO.

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arXiv2021

CCAT-prime: Characterization of the First 280 GHz MKID Array for Prime-Cam

The Prime-Cam receiver on the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope for the CCAT-prime project aims to address important astrophysical and cosmological questions with sensitive broadband, polarimetric, and spectroscopic measurements. The primary frequency bands in development include 280, 350, and 850 GHz for the polarization-sensitive broadband channels and 210--420 GHz for the spectrometers. Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) are a natural choice of detector technology for the simplicity in multiplexed readout needed for large format arrays at these high frequencies. We present here the initial lab characterization of the feedhorn-coupled 280 GHz polarimetric MKID array, and outline the plans for the subsequent MKID arrays and the development of the testbed to characterize them.

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arXiv2021

Development of an Array of Kinetic Inductance Magnetometers (KIMs)

We describe optimization of a cryogenic magnetometer that uses nonlinear kinetic inductance in superconducting nanowires as the sensitive element instead of a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). The circuit design consists of a loop geometry with two nanowires in parallel, serving as the inductive section of a lumped LC resonator similar to a kinetic inductance detector (KID). This device takes advantage of the multiplexing capability of the KID, allowing for a natural frequency multiplexed readout. The Kinetic Inductance Magnetometer (KIM) is biased with a DC magnetic flux through the inductive loop. A perturbing signal will cause a flux change through the loop, and thus a change in the induced current, which alters the kinetic inductance of the nanowires, causing the resonant frequency of the KIM to shift. This technology has applications in astrophysics, material science, and the medical field for readout of Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters (MMCs), axion detection, and magnetoencephalography (MEG).

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

Overview and status of EXCLAIM, the experiment for cryogenic large-aperture intensity mapping

The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a balloon-borne far-infrared telescope that will survey star formation history over cosmological time scales to improve our understanding of why the star formation rate declined at redshift z < 2, despite continued clustering of dark matter. Specifically,EXCLAIM will map the emission of redshifted carbon monoxide and singly-ionized carbon lines in windows over a redshift range 0 < z < 3.5, following an innovative approach known as intensity mapping. Intensity mapping measures the statistics of brightness fluctuations of cumulative line emissions instead of detecting individual galaxies, thus enabling a blind, complete census of the emitting gas. To detect this emission unambiguously, EXCLAIM will cross-correlate with a spectroscopic galaxy catalog. The EXCLAIM mission uses a cryogenic design to cool the telescope optics to approximately 1.7 K. The telescope features a 90-cm primary mirror to probe spatial scales on the sky from the linear regime up to shot noise-dominated scales. The telescope optical elements couple to six {\mu}-Spec spectrometer modules, operating over a 420-540 GHz frequency band with a spectral resolution of 512 and featuring microwave kinetic inductance detectors. A Radio Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) reads out the detectors in the baseline design. The cryogenic telescope and the sensitive detectors allow EXCLAIM to reach high sensitivity in spectral windows of low emission in the upper atmosphere. Here, an overview of the mission design and development status since the start of the EXCLAIM project in early 2019 is presented.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

The Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope Observatory

The BLAST Observatory is a proposed superpressure balloon-borne polarimeter designed for a future ultra-long duration balloon campaign from Wanaka, New Zealand. To maximize scientific output while staying within the stringent superpressure weight envelope, BLAST will feature new 1.8m off-axis optical system contained within a lightweight monocoque structure gondola. The payload will incorporate a 300L $^4$He cryogenic receiver which will cool 8,274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) to 100mK through the use of an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) in combination with a $^3$He sorption refrigerator all backed by a liquid helium pumped pot operating at 2K. The detector readout utilizes a new Xilinx RFSOC-based system which will run the next-generation of the BLAST-TNG KIDPy software. With this instrument we aim to answer outstanding questions about dust dynamics as well as provide community access to the polarized submillimeter sky made possible by high-altitude observing unrestricted by atmospheric transmission. The BLAST Observatory is designed for a minimum 31-day flight of which 70$\%$ will be dedicated to observations for BLAST scientific goals and the remaining 30$\%$ will be open to proposals from the wider astronomical community through a shared-risk proposals program.

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arXiv2020

In-flight performance of the BLAST-TNG telescope platform

The Next Generation Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) was a unique instrument for characterizing the polarized submillimeter sky at high-angular resolution. BLAST-TNG flew from the Long Duration Balloon Facility in Antarctica in January 2020. Despite the short flight duration, the instrument worked very well and is providing significant information about each subsystem that will be invaluable for future balloon missions. In this contribution, we discuss the performance of telescope and gondola.

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arXiv2020

Characterization, deployment, and in-flight performance of the BLAST-TNG cryogenic receiver

The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter polarimeter designed to map interstellar dust and galactic foregrounds at 250, 350, and 500 microns during a 24-day Antarctic flight. The BLAST-TNG detector arrays are comprised of 918, 469, and 272 MKID pixels, respectively. The pixels are formed from two orthogonally oriented, crossed, linear-polarization sensitive MKID antennae. The arrays are cooled to sub 300mK temperatures and stabilized via a closed cycle $^3$He sorption fridge in combination with a $^4$He vacuum pot. The detectors are read out through a combination of the second-generation Reconfigurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware (ROACH2) and custom RF electronics designed for BLAST-TNG. The firmware and software designed to readout and characterize these detectors was built from scratch by the BLAST team around these detectors, and has been adapted for use by other MKID instruments such as TolTEC and OLIMPO. We present an overview of these systems as well as in-depth methodology of the ground-based characterization and the measured in-flight performance.

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arXiv2018

Preflight Characterization of the BLAST-TNG Receiver and Detector Arrays

The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter mapping experiment planned for a 28 day long-duration balloon (LDB) flight from McMurdo Station, Antarctica during the 2018-2019 season. BLAST-TNG will detect submillimeter polarized interstellar dust emission, tracing magnetic fields in galactic molecular clouds. BLAST-TNG will be the first polarimeter with the sensitivity and resolution to probe the $\sim$0.1 parsec-scale features that are critical to understanding the origin of structures in the interstellar medium. BLAST-TNG features three detector arrays operating at wavelengths of 250, 350, and 500 $\mu$m (1200, 857, and 600 GHz) comprised of 918, 469, and 272 dual-polarization pixels, respectively. Each pixel is made up of two crossed microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). These arrays are cooled to 275 mK in a cryogenic receiver. Each MKID has a different resonant frequency, allowing hundreds of resonators to be read out on a single transmission line. This inherent ability to be frequency-domain multiplexed simplifies the cryogenic readout hardware, but requires careful optical testing to map out the physical location of each resonator on the focal plane. Receiver-level optical testing was carried out using both a cryogenic source mounted to a movable xy-stage with a shutter, and a beam-filling, heated blackbody source able to provide a 10-50 $^\circ$C temperature chop. The focal plane array noise properties, responsivity, polarization efficiency, instrumental polarization were measured. We present the preflight characterization of the BLAST-TNG cryogenic system and array-level optical testing of the MKID detector arrays in the flight receiver.

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arXiv2016

An Open Source, FPGA-based LeKID readout for BLAST-TNG: Pre-flight Results

We present a highly frequency multiplexed readout for large-format superconducting detector arrays intended for use in the next generation of balloon-borne and space-based sub-millimeter and far-infrared missions. We will demonstrate this technology on the upcoming NASA Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) to measure the polarized emission of Galactic dust at wavelengths of 250, 350 and 500 microns. The BLAST-TNG receiver incorporates the first arrays of Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors (LeKID) along with the first microwave multiplexing readout electronics to fly in a space-like environment and will significantly advance the TRL for these technologies. After the flight of BLAST-TNG, we will continue to improve the performance of the detectors and readout electronics for the next generation of balloon-borne instruments and for use in a future FIR Surveyor.

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arXiv2016

Instrumental performance and results from testing of the BLAST-TNG receiver, submillimeter optics, and MKID arrays

Polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains can be used to map magnetic fields in star forming molecular clouds and the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) flew from Antarctica in 2010 and 2012 and produced degree-scale polarization maps of several nearby molecular clouds with arcminute resolution. The success of BLASTPol has motivated a next-generation instrument, BLAST-TNG, which will use more than 3000 linear polarization sensitive microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) combined with a 2.5m diameter carbon fiber primary mirror to make diffraction-limited observations at 250, 350, and 500 $\mu$m. With 16 times the mapping speed of BLASTPol, sub-arcminute resolution, and a longer flight time, BLAST-TNG will be able to examine nearby molecular clouds and the diffuse galactic dust polarization spectrum in unprecedented detail. The 250 $\mu$m detector array has been integrated into the new cryogenic receiver, and is undergoing testing to establish the optical and polarization characteristics of the instrument. BLAST-TNG will demonstrate the effectiveness of kilo-pixel MKID arrays for applications in submillimeter astronomy. BLAST-TNG is scheduled to fly from Antarctica in December 2017 for 28 days and will be the first balloon-borne telescope to offer a quarter of the flight for "shared risk" observing by the community.

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