Superconducting quantum detectors

Abstract:

CLOVER aims to detect the signature of gravitational waves from inflation by measuring the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background. CLOVER consists of two polarimeters. One operates at 97 GHz, using fintine-coupled Transition Edge Sensors (TES). The other has a combined 150/220-GHz focal plane populated by radial-probe coupled TES detectors. The 97-GHz instrument will have 100 feedhorns and 200 detectors while the combined 150 and 220-GHz instrument will have a total of 200 horns. To achieve the target NEP of 1.5 x 10(-17) W Hz(-1) the 97-GHz detectors will have a transition temperature of 190 mK and will operate with a base temperature of similar to 100 mK. CLOVER's detectors are fabricated on 225-micron silicon substrates. In the 97-GHz instrument a finline transition feeds a microstrip which is terminated by a matched resistor on the silicon nitride island that carries the TES. Each detector is fabricated as a single chip to ensure a 100% operational focal plane. The detectors are mounted in linear modules made of copper which form split-block waveguides. Each detector module contains a time-division SQUID multiplexer to read out the detectors. The multiplexed signals are further amplified by SQUID series arrays. The first prototype detectors for CLOVER have a transition temperature of 350 mK and were fabricated to validate the detector design and the polarimeter technology. We have characterised these detectors in a dedicated test facility. The CLOVER testhed contains cryogenics similar to those in the final instrument: a pulse-tube cooler, He-7 sorption fridge, and a mini dilution fridge so that the detectors are tested in a realistic environment. The test bed has a cryogenic blackbody source with band-defining filters for optical testing. As well as the multi-channel electronics that will be used on the final instrument the test bed has an analogue SQUID readout which allows us to characterise the readout fully. We discuss the results of the detector tests and the design changes needed to achieve the required sensitivity.

Abstract:

CLOVER is an experiment which aims to detect the signature of gravitational waves from inflation by measuring the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background. CLOVER consists of three telescopes operating at 97, 150, and 220 GHz. The 97-GHz telescope has 160 feedhorns in its focal plane while the 150 and 220-GHz telescopes have 256 horns each. The horns are arranged in a hexagonal array and feed a polarimeter which uses finline-coupled TES bolometers as detectors. To detect the two polarizations the 97-GHz telescope has 320 detectors while the 150 and 220-GHz telescopes have 512 detectors each. To achieve the target NEPs (1.5, 2.5, and 4.5x10^-17 W/rtHz) the detectors are cooled to 100 mK for the 97 and 150-GHz polarimeters and 230 mK for the 220-GHz polarimeter. Each detector is fabricated as a single chip to ensure a 100% operational focal plane. The detectors are contained in linear modules made of copper which form split-block waveguides. The detector modules contain 16 or 20 detectors each for compatibility with the hexagonal arrays of horns in the telescopes' focal planes. Each detector module contains a time-division SQUID multiplexer to read out the detectors. Further amplification of the multiplexed signals is provided by SQUID series arrays. The first prototype detectors for CLOVER operate with a bath temperature of 230 mK and are used to validate the detector design as well as the polarimeter technology. We describe the design of the CLOVER detectors, detector blocks, and readout, and present preliminary measurements of the prototype detectors performance.

Abstract:

Microstrip-coupled Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) are important because they can be combined with waveguide-horn technology to produce sensitive bolometric detectors with well-defined, single-mode beam patterns and polarisation characteristics. They also allow superconducting RF filters to be included on the detector chips. Our own design of TES uses a finline taper to transform between waveguide and superconducting Nb microstrip. The microstrip transports the signal to a matched Au-Cu resistor, which is deposited on a thermally isolated SiN membrane. The dissipated RF power causes the resistance of a Mo-Cu TES bilayer to increase, and the resulting reduction in bias current is read out by a SQUID. We have fabricated TES bilayers with critical temperatures of 400 to 600mK, and deduced dark NEPs as low as 3 x 10(-17)W/root Hz at 150GHz. In this paper we describe a number of experiments that were carried out in order to investigate the electrothermal behaviour of microstrip-coupled TESs. We show that the electrothermal behaviour of microstrip-coupled TESs can be as good as that of free-space TESs, and therefore that they are suitable for high-performance astronomical applications.