EXPLORING 2D MATERIALS FOR DEVELOPING KINETIC INDUCTANCE DETECTORS

FUTURE SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS AND INSTRUMENTATION IN GROUND BASED ARE, SO FAR, LIMITED BY THE AVAILABILITY OF HIGH SENTITVITY IMAGING DETECTOR ARRAY TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MM-FIR WAVELENGTH RANGE (3 MM TO 30 and 956;M). SUPERCONDUCTING KINETIC INDUCTANCE DETECTORS (KIDS) WERE PROPOSED, A DECADE AGO, TO PROVIDE LARGE FORMAT CAMERA DUE TO ITS INTRINSIC POSSIBILITY OF MULTIPLEXING IN THE FREQUENCY DOMAIN, ALLOWING THOUSANDS OF PIXELS TO BE READ OUT THROUGH A SINGLE CABLE. HOWEVER, THESE DETECTORS HAVE ALREADY DEMONSTRATED VERY LOW OPTICAL EFFICIENCY IN LOW BACKGROUND IN THE THZ RANGE AND, IN ADDITION, THEY OPERATE AT EXTREMELY LOW TEMPERATURE (FEW MK). AS A RESULT, AN ALTERNATIVE IS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE THE REQUIRED LARGE ARRAY DETECTOR OPERANTING IN THE THZ RANGE WITH SENSITIVITIES MATCHING THAT REQUIRED FOR FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS WITH LARGE CRYOGENIC TELESCOPES (4-6 K). IN THIS PROJECT, WE PROPOSE TO FOLLOW THE RECENTLY CLAIMED DETECTION OF A CHANGE OF KINETIC INDUCTANCE ON GRAPHENE WITH THE APPLIED VOLTAGE GATE EXPLORE THE POSIBILITY TO USE 2D MATERIALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW GENERATION OF STATE-OF-THE-ART KINETIC INDUCTANCE DETECTOR FOR ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE FAR-IR. THIS TYPE OF 2D DETECTORS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO OPEN A UNIQUE POSSIBILITY FOR SPACE OBSERVATORIES TO OPERATE WITH THE ULTIMATE SENSITIVITY, ONLY LIMITED BY THE LOW BACKGOUND PROVIDED BY CRIOGENIC TELESCOPES, KEEPING THE INTRISIC MULTIPLEXING CAPABILITY (LARGE CAMERAS) WITH THE ADVANTAGE TO OPERATE AT HIGHER TEMPERATURES ( 30K) THAN THE MOST SENSITIVE DETECTOR USED NOWADAYS (TENS OF MK). IN ADDITION, THIS TYPE OF NEW DETECTORS WILL BE USED IN A WIDE RANGE OF APPLICATIONS.