Mazin Benjamin A, Bumble Bruce, Meeker Seth R, O'Brien Kieran, McHugh Sean, Langman Eric
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
Opt Express. 2012 Jan 16;20(2):1503-11. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.001503.
Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors, or MKIDs, have proven to be a powerful cryogenic detector technology due to their sensitivity and the ease with which they can be multiplexed into large arrays. A MKID is an energy sensor based on a photon-variable superconducting inductance in a lithographed microresonator, and is capable of functioning as a photon detector across the electromagnetic spectrum as well as a particle detector. Here we describe the first successful effort to create a photon-counting, energy-resolving ultraviolet, optical, and near infrared MKID focal plane array. These new Optical Lumped Element (OLE) MKID arrays have significant advantages over semiconductor detectors like charge coupled devices (CCDs). They can count individual photons with essentially no false counts and determine the energy and arrival time of every photon with good quantum efficiency. Their physical pixel size and maximum count rate is well matched with large telescopes. These capabilities enable powerful new astrophysical instruments usable from the ground and space. MKIDs could eventually supplant semiconductor detectors for most astronomical instrumentation, and will be useful for other disciplines such as quantum optics and biological imaging.
微波动态电感探测器（MKIDs）已被证明是一种强大的低温探测器技术，这得益于其灵敏度以及能够轻松复用成大型阵列的特性。MKID是一种基于光刻微谐振器中光子可变超导电感的能量传感器，能够作为全电磁频谱的光子探测器以及粒子探测器发挥作用。在此，我们描述了首次成功制造出一种光子计数、能量分辨的紫外、光学和近红外MKID焦平面阵列的工作。这些新型光学集总元件（OLE）MKID阵列相对于电荷耦合器件（CCD）等半导体探测器具有显著优势。它们能够对单个光子进行计数且基本无误计数，并以良好的量子效率确定每个光子的能量和到达时间。其物理像素尺寸和最大计数率与大型望远镜非常匹配。这些能力使得能够制造出可在地面和太空使用的强大新型天体物理仪器。MKIDs最终可能会在大多数天文仪器中取代半导体探测器，并且对量子光学和生物成像等其他学科也将有用。
