A readout system for microwave kinetic inductance detectors using software defined radios

Mehdi Shafiee, Dmitriy Fedorov, B. Grossan, V. Kizheppatt, George F. Smoot

2021

Closed access Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.1088/1748-0221/16/07/p07015
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

Abstract Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) are typically readout using custom high-speed electronics and firmware, a challenging and time-intensive undertaking. We have developed a readout system for these devices using a software defined radio (SDR), a software implementation of radiofrequency signal processing. The SDR allows use of pre-existing software libraries and minimizes specialized firmware coding, a significant reduction in effort. We customized our SDR to readout mm and optical band MKIDs with resonant frequencies of 1.8-2 GHz and 2-2.2 GHz respectively. We used this readout system to measure the sensitivity of our MKIDs devices to visible light. We show that SDRs are a good candidate for small pixel count MKIDs readout systems, and make recommendations for readout systems for larger Pixel count arrays.