Abstract
We discuss the design and measured performance of a titanium nitride (TiN) mesh absorber we are developing for controlling optical crosstalk in horn-coupled lumped-element kinetic inductance detector (LEKID) arrays for millimeter wavelengths. This absorber was added to the fused silica anti-reflection coating attached to previously characterized, 20-element prototype arrays of LEKIDs fabricated from thin-film aluminum on silicon substrates. To test the TiN crosstalk absorber, we compared the measured response and noise properties of LEKID arrays with and without the TiN mesh. For this test, the LEKIDs were illuminated with an adjustable, incoherent electronic millimeter-wave source. Our measurements show that the optical crosstalk in the LEKID array with the TiN absorber is reduced by 66 % on average, so the approach is effective and a viable candidate for future kilo-pixel arrays.
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Acknowledgments
This research is supported in part by a grant from the Research Initiatives for Science and Engineering (RISE) program at Columbia University to Bradley Johnson, and by internal Columbia University funding to Amber Miller. Heather McCarrick is supported by a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship (NESSF). We thank the Xilinx University Program for their donation of FPGA hardware and software tools used in the readout system.
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McCarrick, H., Flanigan, D., Jones, G. et al. A Titanium Nitride Absorber for Controlling Optical Crosstalk in Horn-Coupled Aluminum LEKID Arrays for Millimeter Wavelengths. J Low Temp Phys 184, 154–160 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-015-1424-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-015-1424-5