RF-ICE: large-scale gigahertz readout of frequency-multiplexed microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Abstract

We present RF-ICE, a novel readout platform for microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), optimized for use on millimeter-wavelength telescopes. The RF-ICE system extends ICE, a versatile, mature signal processing platform currently in use on telescopes around the world, into a new operational domain with MKIDs biased with gigahertz carriers. The system couples the FPGA-based ICE motherboard with a radio-frequency digitization daughterboard to enable direct digital synthesis from 0 to 6 GHz without the need for external mixing. The system operates two independent readout modules, each with 1024 frequency-multiplexed readout channels spaced across 500 MHz of carrier bandwidth. The system, which is under active development, is in operation with prototype detector wafers and will be deployed for the upcoming SPT-SLIM and SPT-3G+ experiments.

arXiv comment14 pages, 7 figures, appearing in the proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022

References in corpus (4)

• The 10 Meter South Pole Telescope
• A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Damping Tail from the 2500-square-degree SPT-SZ survey
• SPT-SLIM: A Line Intensity Mapping Pathfinder for the South Pole Telescope
• Development of MKIDs for measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background with the South Pole Telescope

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Fabrication Development for SPT-SLIM, a Superconducting Spectrometer for Line Intensity Mapping
• The CRS: a scalable full-stack control system for Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors