Absorber Design and Optimization of Kinetic Inductance Detectors for the Terahertz Intensity Mapper

• Published in: Journal of low temperature physics Vol. 209; no. 3-4; pp. 525 - 533
• Main Authors: Nie, R., Janssen, R. M. J., Bradford, C. M., Filippini, J. P., Hailey-Dunsheath, S., McKenney, C. M., Aguirre, J. E., Bracks, J. S., Corso, A. J., Fu, J., Groppi, C., Hoh, J., Keenan, R. P., Liu, L.-J., Lowe, I. N., Marrone, D. P., Mauskopf, P., Redford, J., Trumper, I., Vieira, J. D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-11-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorbers; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Design optimization; Inductance; Linear polarization; Low temperature physics; Magnetic Materials; Magnetism; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Thickness; Electromagnetic simulations; Kinetic inductance detector; Terahertz Intensity Mapper
• ISSN: 0022-2291; 1573-7357
• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-022-02755-3

We discuss the design and optimization of the absorber for Terahertz Intensity Mapper, a balloon-borne kinetic inductance detector spectrometer. The novel “chain-link” absorber design offers excellent performance, independent optimization for both polarizations, and robust fabrication. Electromagnetic simulations indicate in-band absorption efficiency over
∼
90
%
in both linear polarization modes. DC measurements on different film thicknesses indicate the desired sheet resistance.