Niobium-Based Kinetic Inductance Detectors for High-Energy Applications

A lumped element kinetic inductance detector (LeKID) relying on a superconducting resonator is a promising candidate for sensing high energy particles such as neutrinos, X-rays, gamma-rays, alpha particles, and the particles found in the dark matter owing to its large-format capability and high sensitivity. To develop a high energy camera, we formulated design rules based on the experimental results from niobium (Nb)based LeKIDs at 1 K irradiated with alpha-particles of 5.49 MeV. We defined the design rules using the electromagnetic simulations for minimizing the crosstalk. The neighboring pixels were fixed at 150 μm with a frequency separation of 250 MHz from each other to reduce the crosstalk signal as low as the amplifier-limited noise level. We examined the characteristics of the Nb-based resonators, where the signal decay time was controlled in the range of 0.5–50 μs by changing the designed quality factor of the detectors. The amplifier noise was observed to restrict the performance of our device, as expected. We improved the energy resolution by reducing the filling factor of inductor lines. The best energy resolution of 26 for the alpha particle of 5.49 MeV was observed in our device. key words: lumped element kinetic inductance detectors, superconducting sensors, high energy applications

[1]  C. M. Natarajan,et al.  Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors: physics and applications , 2012, 1204.5560.

[2]  K. Irwin.  An application of electrothermal feedback for high resolution cryogenic particle detection , 1995 .

[3]  A. Coppolecchia,et al.  CALDER: neutrinoless double-beta decay identification in TeO\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$_2$$\end{d , 2015, The European Physical Journal C.

[4]  H. Leduc,et al.  A wideband, low-noise superconducting amplifier with high dynamic range , 2012, Nature Physics.

[5]  M. Kurakado,et al.  Possibility of high resolution detectors using superconducting tunnel junctions , 1982 .

[6]  Andrey M. Baryshev,et al.  Fast Fourier transform spectrometer readout for large arrays of microwave kinetic inductance detectors , 2009 .

[7]  Dan Werthimer,et al.  A readout for large arrays of microwave kinetic inductance detectors. , 2012, The Review of scientific instruments.

[8]  Jiansong Gao,et al.  The physics of superconducting microwave resonators , 2008 .

[9]  J. Zmuidzinas,et al.  A WIMP Dark Matter Detector Using MKIDs , 2008 .

[10]  P. Mauskopf,et al.  Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors , 2008 .

[11]  H. Leduc,et al.  A broadband superconducting detector suitable for use in large arrays , 2003, Nature.

[12]  S. R. Golwala,et al.  Position and energy-resolved particle detection using phonon-mediated microwave kinetic inductance detectors , 2012, 1203.4549.

[13]  Y. Hochberg,et al.  Superconducting Detectors for Superlight Dark Matter. , 2015, Physical review letters.

[14]  A. Giuliani,et al.  Neutrino Physics with Low-Temperature Detectors , 2012 .

[15]  Anthony J. Peacock,et al.  Quasiparticle-phonon downconversion in nonequilibrium superconductors , 2000 .

[16]  Rudolf P. Huebener,et al.  Quasiparticle scattering time in niobium superconducting films , 2011 .

[17]  J. Zmuidzinas,et al.  Crosstalk Reduction for Superconducting Microwave Resonator Arrays , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[18]  Marlan O. Scully,et al.  ENERGY LOSS AND STRAGGLING OF ALPHA PARTICLES IN METAL FOILS , 1966 .

[19]  A. Giachero,et al.  Development of Microwave Superconducting Microresonators for Neutrino Mass Measurement in the Holmes Framework , 2015, 1509.05237.