READOUT FOR MICROWAVE KINETIC INDUCTANCE DETECTORS

Abstract

Custom high-speed electronics and firmware are often used to readout Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID), which is a difficult and time-consuming task. We used a Software Defined Radio (SDR), a software+hardware implementation of radio-frequency signal processing, to create a readout system for these devices. The SDR takes advantage of pre-existing software libraries and reduces the need for custom firmware coding, saving time and effort. We designed our SDR to readout milliliter and optical range MKIDs with resonance frequencies of 1.8-2GHz and 2-2.2GHz. The sensitivity of our MKIDs devices to blue light was measured using this readout technique. We show that SDRs are a suitable fit for MKIDs readout systems with lower pixel counts. Additionally, we give recommendations for readout systems with greater pixel counts.