Speaker
Description
Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) have demonstrated single photon counting in 14-6 THz. Current efforts focus on extending the range and performance of such photon counting KIDs over 1-100 THz (4-400 meV) range. Exploiting the nonlinearity of thin-film kinetic inductance drastically improves the signal to noise ratio. Kinetic inductance traveling-wave parametric amplifiers (KI-TWPAs) offer broadband, near quantum-limited noise performance and nonlinear operation of KIDs providing in-situ amplification of low-amplitude pulses.The two kinetic inductance technologies allows for broadband signal-to-noise enhancements for a wide range of applications. Science applications being explored include probes of fundamental symmetries with engineered molecules, bridging the previously inaccessible far-infrared gap in direct ultralight dark matter detection and broadly far-infrared astrophysics and cosmology. This talk will review the state of the art for these kinetic inductance devices.