Design and Fabrication of TES Detector Modules for the TIME-Pilot [CII] Intensity Mapping Experiment

We are developing a series of close-packed modular detector arrays for TIME-Pilot, a new mm-wavelength grating spectrometer array that will map the intensity fluctuations of the redshifted 157.7 $$\upmu $$μm emission line of singly ionized carbon ([CII]) from redshift $$z \sim 5$$z∼5 to 9. TIME-Pilot’s two banks of 16 parallel-plate waveguide spectrometers (one bank per polarization) will have a spectral range of 183–326 GHz and a resolving power of $$R \sim 100$$R∼100. The spectrometers use a curved diffraction grating to disperse and focus the light on a series of output arcs, each sampled by 60 transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers with gold micro-mesh absorbers. These low-noise detectors will be operated from a 250 mK base temperature and are designed to have a background-limited NEP of $${\sim }10^{-17}~ \mathrm {W}/\mathrm {Hz}^{1/2}$$∼10-17W/Hz1/2. This proceeding presents an overview of the detector design in the context of the TIME-Pilot instrument. Additionally, a prototype detector module produced at the Microdevices Laboratory at JPL is shown.