Strategic Materials for Far-IR, CMB, and VISIR Kinetic Inductance Detectors

KIDs are photon detectors made of superconducting thin-film microwave resonators. They are an attractive technology for next-generation kilo-pixel detector arrays for future astrophysics missions since they can reach ultra-sensitive detection levels, and are intrinsically adapted to be read out in microwave frequency multiplexing schemes. Understanding the physics of these superconducting films and superconducting-dielectric systems is critical to achieving detector performance. Our objective is to complete materials characterization to demonstrate proof-of-concepts for KID designs required for future Far-Infrared (Far-IR), Cosmic Microwave Backround (CMB) and Visible-to-Infrared (VISIR) space-flight instruments.