NIKEL: Electronics and data acquisition for kilopixels kinetic inductance camera

TL;DR

This paper presents a prototype of digital frequency multiplexing electronics that enables real-time monitoring of large MKID arrays for mm-wave astronomy, significantly reducing cabling complexity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel digital frequency multiplexing system capable of monitoring 400 pixels simultaneously over 500 MHz bandwidth.

Findings

Supports 400 pixels monitoring in real-time

Uses only two coaxial cables for large arrays

Demonstrates effective multiplexing performance

Abstract

A prototype of digital frequency multiplexing electronics allowing the real time monitoring of microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKIDs) arrays for mm-wave astronomy has been developed. Thanks to the frequency multiplexing, it can monitor simultaneously 400 pixels over a 500 MHz bandwidth and requires only two coaxial cables for instrumenting such a large array. The chosen solution and the performances achieved are presented in this paper.