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Main Authors: Sayers, Jack, Cunnane, Daniel, Crystian, Sage, Day, Peter K., Defrance, Fabien, Eom, Byeong Ho, Greenfield, Jonathan, Hollister, Matthew, Johnson, Bradley R., LeDuc, Henry G., Mauskopf, Philip, McNichols, Nia, Roberson, Cody, Runyan, Marcus C., Sriram, Adhitya B., Stanton, Sage, Stephenson, Ryan C., Walters, Liam C., Weeks, Eric
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.14607
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author Sayers, Jack
Cunnane, Daniel
Crystian, Sage
Day, Peter K.
Defrance, Fabien
Eom, Byeong Ho
Greenfield, Jonathan
Hollister, Matthew
Johnson, Bradley R.
LeDuc, Henry G.
Mauskopf, Philip
McNichols, Nia
Roberson, Cody
Runyan, Marcus C.
Sriram, Adhitya B.
Stanton, Sage
Stephenson, Ryan C.
Walters, Liam C.
Weeks, Eric
author_facet Sayers, Jack
Cunnane, Daniel
Crystian, Sage
Day, Peter K.
Defrance, Fabien
Eom, Byeong Ho
Greenfield, Jonathan
Hollister, Matthew
Johnson, Bradley R.
LeDuc, Henry G.
Mauskopf, Philip
McNichols, Nia
Roberson, Cody
Runyan, Marcus C.
Sriram, Adhitya B.
Stanton, Sage
Stephenson, Ryan C.
Walters, Liam C.
Weeks, Eric
contents Passive imaging through optical obscurants is a promising application for mm-wave sensing. We have thus developed the Superconducting Kinetic Inductance Passive Radiometer (SKIPR), a 150 GHz polarization-sensitive photometric camera optimized for terrestrial imaging using a focal plane array with 3,840 kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). We present a full description of the instrument design, with a particular emphasis on the cryogenic system based on a Gifford-McMahon cryocooler with a two-stage Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator and a dedicated 1.59 m crossed Dragone telescope with an altitude/azimuth mount. We include a detailed lab-based characterization of the KIDs, which results in a determination of their superconducting resonator parameters and optical properties. We also present in situ measurements from the telescope, including point-spread functions and noise characterization. In sum, we find that SKIPR performs as expected, providing diffraction-limited imaging with detector noise performance set by the random arrivals of photons from the ambient background. There is minimal variation in detector characteristics over the full SKIPR focal plane array, and the overall detector yield is 92 per cent.
format Preprint
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institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Millimeter-Wave Photometric Camera for Long-Range Imaging Through Optical Obscurants Using Kinetic Inductance Detectors
Sayers, Jack
Cunnane, Daniel
Crystian, Sage
Day, Peter K.
Defrance, Fabien
Eom, Byeong Ho
Greenfield, Jonathan
Hollister, Matthew
Johnson, Bradley R.
LeDuc, Henry G.
Mauskopf, Philip
McNichols, Nia
Roberson, Cody
Runyan, Marcus C.
Sriram, Adhitya B.
Stanton, Sage
Stephenson, Ryan C.
Walters, Liam C.
Weeks, Eric
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Passive imaging through optical obscurants is a promising application for mm-wave sensing. We have thus developed the Superconducting Kinetic Inductance Passive Radiometer (SKIPR), a 150 GHz polarization-sensitive photometric camera optimized for terrestrial imaging using a focal plane array with 3,840 kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). We present a full description of the instrument design, with a particular emphasis on the cryogenic system based on a Gifford-McMahon cryocooler with a two-stage Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator and a dedicated 1.59 m crossed Dragone telescope with an altitude/azimuth mount. We include a detailed lab-based characterization of the KIDs, which results in a determination of their superconducting resonator parameters and optical properties. We also present in situ measurements from the telescope, including point-spread functions and noise characterization. In sum, we find that SKIPR performs as expected, providing diffraction-limited imaging with detector noise performance set by the random arrivals of photons from the ambient background. There is minimal variation in detector characteristics over the full SKIPR focal plane array, and the overall detector yield is 92 per cent.
title A Millimeter-Wave Photometric Camera for Long-Range Imaging Through Optical Obscurants Using Kinetic Inductance Detectors
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.14607