NEWS

Omnisys signed contract for MKIDCam

Details

Created on Thursday, 22 January 2009 23:00

MKIDCam is a new instrument being constructed by Caltech and the University of Colorado for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The instrument will perform simultaneous imaging in four wavelength bands: 1.3mm, 1.1mm, 850μm, and 750μm. This will be accomplished using a focal plane array of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) operating at a base temperature of 230 mK.

The MKIDCam readout electronics have the general task of performing multiple real-time complex microwave (around 3-6 GHz) transmission measurements (the S21 scattering parameter in microwave parlance), in order to monitor the instantaneous resonance frequency and dissipation of the superconducting microresonators that serve as the mm/submm photon detectors.

Omnisys will develop a breadboard which will feed the detectors with a 400MHz complex signal and sample the output from the same detectors in order to measure the differences in phase and amplitude. The breadboard will perform measurements at a rate of approximately 100Hz and with a resolution of less than 5kHz.