Development and Characterization of KID-Based SPIAKID Instrument
Journal article, 2026
The SpectroPhotometric Imaging in Astronomy with Kinetic Inductance Detectors (SPIAKID) instrument is designed and currently being developed to explore ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies in the optical and near-infrared bands. We envisage to install SPIAKID at the New Technology Telescope (NTT) in Chile as a guest instrument and targets a field of view of 2' × 2', which can be achieved using four 20,000-pixel arrays at the focal plane. Each array is divided into 10 subarrays, with 2,000 pixels per feedline. The superconducting kinetic inductance detector (KID) comprises a TiN/Ti/TiN trilayer meander and an Nb interdigitated capacitor. In a newly developed anti-vibration dilution cryostat, 10 readout lines were constructed utilizing 10 low-noise amplifiers (LNAs). The performance of the device is characterized using a vector network analyzer (VNA) and a homodyne scheme at various temperatures between 20 and 495 mK, producing preliminary results of pulse response and energy resolution (energy resolving power) under illumination delivered through an optical fiber at 405 nm. The measured resonant frequencies of the KIDs range from 3.8 to 8.5 GHz. The energy resolution of the resonator initially improves with increasing temperature but subsequently degrades. So far, the best measured energy resolution is 2.5 at 275 mK and 405 nm.
kinetic inductance detector
single photon
KID
SPIAKID
energy resolution
Author
Zhaohang Peng
Paris Observatory
Paris Descartes University
Faouzi Boussaha
Paris Observatory
Piercarlo Bonifacio
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon
Jie Hu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Paul Nicaise
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Technology
Paris Observatory
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Christine Chaumont
Paris Observatory
Florent Reix
Paris Observatory
Josiane Firminy
Paris Observatory
Elisabetta Caffau
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon
Cyril Pannetier
Paris Observatory
Jean Philippe Amans
Paris Observatory
Moustapha Dekkali
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon
Thibaut Vacelet
Observatoire de Paris-Meudon
Alexine Marret
Chinese Academy of Sciences
David Horville
Chinese Academy of Sciences
M. Piat
Paris Descartes University
IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
1051-8223 (ISSN) 15582515 (eISSN)
Vol. In PressSubject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
DOI
10.1109/TASC.2026.3696967