Demonstration of Ultra-Sensitive KIDs for Future THz Space Borne Polarimeters

Abstract

We present measurements and simulations of the polarization purity of leaky lens-antenna coupled microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) at 1.5 THz. We find the integrated cross-polarization level to be at -21.5 dB for 1 f\#$\lambda$ spatial sampling. The measurements agree well with the theoretical description which is based on a combination of in-transmission simulation of the antenna feed, and an in-reception analysis of the antenna-KID system. Combined with the measured noise equivalent power of 5--7$\times$10${}^{-20}$ W/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, these detectors are excellent candidates for large scale and high performance imaging polarimetric instruments.

Accepted version

References in corpus (5)

• Ultra-sensitive Super-THz Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors for future space telescopes
• Suppression of radiation loss in high kinetic inductance superconducting co-planar waveguides
• Complex beam mapping and Fourier optics analysis of a wide field Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector camera
• Simulation of the Far-Infrared Polarimetry Approach Envisioned for the PRIMA Mission
• Applying Energy Absorption Interferometry to THz direct detectors using photomixers