High-energy interactions in Kinetic Inductance Detectors arrays

TL;DR

This paper investigates how cosmic ray interactions affect Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) arrays, aiming to optimize their design for space missions by testing responses to radioactive sources and proposing fabrication guidelines.

Contribution

It provides experimental insights into cosmic ray effects on KID arrays and suggests design strategies for space-based applications.

Findings

Different substrate materials influence detector responses

Array geometry impacts cosmic ray interaction effects

Guidelines for fabricating space-ready KID arrays

Abstract

The impacts of Cosmic Rays on the detectors are a key problem for space-based missions. We are studying the effects of such interactions on arrays of Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID), in order to adapt this technology for use on board of satellites. Before proposing a new technology such as the Kinetic Inductance Detectors for a space-based mission, the problem of the Cosmic Rays that hit the detectors during in-flight operation has to be studied in detail. We present here several tests carried out with KID exposed to radioactive sources, which we use to reproduce the physical interactions induced by primary Cosmic Rays, and we report the results obtained adopting different solutions in terms of substrate materials and array geometries. We conclude by outlining the main guidelines to follow for fabricating KID for space-based applications.