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Completed TRL 4 (started at 4, targeting 5)
Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors, or MKIDs, are a UVOIR photon counting, energy resolving detector technology developed almost wholly under the auspices of the NASA ROSES program. Recent advances include very uniform arrays with 20,000 pixels - the largest superconducting arrays in the world. Despite recent gains in quantum efficiency and yield, the spectral resolution of R=E/dE~10 at 1000 nm remains stubbornly far from the theoretical limit of R>60 at 1000 nm. In this proposal we will focus in on energy resolution, deploying the latest techniques and materials developed for superconducting quantum qubits to lower two level system (TLS) noise, and use new traveling wave parametric amplifiers to lower amplifier noise. The combination of these two techniques will allow us to increase spectral resolution towards the theoretical limit, vastly improving the potential scientific return of future space-based MKID missions.
The Astrophysics Research and Analysis program (APRA) supports suborbital and suborbital-class investigations, development of detectors and supporting technology, laboratory astrophysics, and limited ground based observing. Basic research proposals in these areas are solicited for investigations that are relevant to NASA's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including the entire range of photons, gravitational waves, and particle astrophysics. The emphasis of this solicitation is on technologies and investigations that advance NASA astrophysics missions and goals.
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