Demonstration of a 1,820 channel microwave superconducting quantum1 interference device multiplexer for transition-edge sensor bolometers

Published

July 15, 2025

Author(s)

John Groh, Jason Austermann, James Beall, Shannon Duff, Johannes Hubmayr, Richard Lew, Michael Link, Tammy Lucas, John Mates, Robinjeet Singh, Joel Ullom, Leila Vale, Jeffrey Van Lanen, Michael Vissers

Abstract

The scalability of most transition-edge sensor arrays is limited by the multiplexing technology which combines their18 signals over a reduced number of wires and amplifiers. In this letter, we present and demonstrate a new multiplexer19 design optimized for transition-edge sensor bolometers which doubles the previous best number of sensors per readout20 unit to 1,820. The design is optimized for cosmic microwave background imaging applications, and it builds on previous21 microwave superconducting quantum interference device multiplexers by doubling the available readout bandwidth to22 the full 4–8 GHz octave. Evaluating the key performance metrics of yield, sensitivity, and crosstalk through laboratory23 testing, we find an end-to-end operable detector yield of 78% along with a typical nearest-neighbor crosstalk amplitude24 of ∼0.4% and a median white noise level of 83 pA√Hz, corresponding to an estimated contribution of 4% to the total25 system noise for a ground-based cosmic microwave background telescope. Additionally, we identify a possible path26 toward reducing resonator loss for future designs with reduced noise.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Pub Type

Journals

Citation

Groh, J. , Austermann, J. , Beall, J. , Duff, S. , Hubmayr, J. , Lew, R. , Link, M. , Lucas, T. , Mates, J. , Singh, R. , Ullom, J. , Vale, L. , Van Lanen, J. and Vissers, M. (2025), Demonstration of a 1,820 channel microwave superconducting quantum1 interference device multiplexer for transition-edge sensor bolometers, Applied Physics Letters (Accessed September 30, 2025)