Effect of total dose proton irradiation on the performance of Kinetic Inductance Detectors for far-Infrared space observatory

Abstract

Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) are a promising technology for future space missions, where exposure to high-energy particles may affect detector performance. In this work, we irradiated two types of KID arrays, absorber coupled and antenna coupled, with high-energy protons at 120 mK. We used a total dose equivalent to approximately 10 years of operation at the L2 Lagrange point. A comparison between pre-irradiation and post-irradiation measurements (24 hours after a 5.7 krad total dose) was done, while keeping the detectors at 120 mK. We find that there is no significant change in the quasi-particle lifetime τ_qp and the dark responsivity dθ/dPdark, but we do observe an increase in the noise and NEP that is tentatively attributed to limitations in the post radiation data analysis.