Development of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors for a THz On-Chip Spectrometer

Far-infrared (FIR) wavelength light provides a wealth of information about astrophysical processes. Large field-of-view FIR spectrometers face a variety of challenges that can be bypassed by utilizing on-chip filter bank technology. To this end, we have been developing microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) to couple to on-chip spectrometric technologies. We utilize a unique two-silicon wafer design to create a waveguide for an on-chip spectrometer between 1.4 and 2 THz. The spectrometer's principle of operation is electromagnetic radiation traveling down a center waveguide before being picked off by a resonance cavity and absorbed by a detector. The MKIDs are designed to couple directly to the waveguide using an annular antenna shape for the inductor. Alignment of the two-wafer design is achieved with two dowel pins and a hole and slot pattern in our custom designed box. We present the design and early test data from a 18-channel prototype device. The prototype yielded the full 18 resonances with quality factors Qc\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$Q_c$$\end{document} of about 5x104\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$5\,\times \,10<^>4$$\end{document} and Qi\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$Q_i$$\end{document} of about 1x104\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$1\,\times \,10<^>4$$\end{document}. We plan to use the technology we developed to create an nxn\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$n \times n$$\end{document} pixel device targeting R=100\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$R=100$$\end{document}.