CAREER: Developing Antenna-Coupled Kinetic Inductance Detectors to Enable Next Generation CMB Experiments

该团队将设计、建造和演示动态电感探测器（KIDs）阵列。KID里有一个很冷的无电阻装置。该设备在“看到”宇宙微波背景（CMB）时改变其特性，这是来自年轻宇宙的微弱信号。下一代的CMB实验需要大量的kid阵列。该团队还将为来自未被充分代表的少数民族的本科生和芝加哥地区的高中生提供实验室经验。该团队的目标是：(1)制造单层谐振器来表征薄膜特性，测量固有噪声水平，并验证灵敏度缩放规律。(2)将谐振器耦合到一个简单的天线上，以测量响应和介电；毫米波的损耗和验证CMB大气窗口的完全覆盖。(3)测试与宽带对数周期天线耦合的单像素多通道探测器，验证在现实条件下的背景限制操作。(4)对约2000像素的示范KID阵列进行端到端实验室测试。未来使用具有数百万像素的KID阵列的CMB实验将(a)精确测量中微子种类的数量以及这些种类的中微子质量总和，这对测试粒子物理理论来说是缺失的——但却是至关重要的——信息；(b)极大地改善了对原始引力b模极化的搜索，这将证明宇宙经历了理论家所假设的宇宙膨胀。

The team will design, build and demonstrate arrays of Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs). A KID contains a very cold, resistance-free device. That device changes its properties when it "sees" the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the faint signal from the young Universe. Vast arrays of KIDs are needed for the next generation of CMB experiments. The team will also provide laboratory experience for undergraduates from underrepresented minorities and for high school students in the Chicago area.The team's goals are: (1) Fabricate single-layer resonators to characterize film properties, measure the intrinsic noise level, and verify sensitivity scaling laws. (2) Couple the resonators to a simple antenna, to measure the response and dielectric
 losses at millimeter wavelengths and to verify full coverage of the CMB atmospheric windows. (3) Test single-pixel multi-channel detectors coupled to wide-band log-periodic antennas, to verify background-limited operation under realistic conditions. (4) Conduct end-to-end laboratory tests of a demonstration KID array of about 2000 pixels. Future CMB experiments using KID arrays with millions of pixels will (a) precisely measure the number of neutrino species and the neutrino mass summed over those species, missing - but vital - information for testing theories of particle physics; and (b) dramatically improve searches for the primordial gravitational B-mode polarization that would prove that the Universe underwent the cosmic inflation posited by theorists.