A study of the position-dependent response of thermal kinetic inductance detectors through the use of cryogenic beam steering

Published

April 2, 2026

Author(s)

Ian Fogarty Florang, Jonathan Dean, Joseph Fowler, Tom-Erik Haugen, Shannon Hoogerheide, Daniel Jardin, Hans Mumm, Nathan Nakamura, Matthew Natale, Galen O'Neil, Nathan Ortiz, Jeremy Paster, Thomas Rao, Avirup Roy, Daniel Swetz, Joel Ullom, Michael Vissers, Paul Szypryt

Abstract

There are a number of considerations when designing a low-temperature detector for the best possible energy resolution. One that has been particularly challenging for thermal kinetic inductance detectors (TKIDs) is ensuring that the detector's response to deposited energy is constant across the active area of a single pixel. In this article, we directly probe the position-dependent response of our TKID devices at 100-μm-scale resolution through the use of a pulsed laser beam steered with a cryogenic micro-electromechanical system mirror. We observe position-dependent response that could limit the energy resolution of our current devices to the part per ten scale. We find that the position-dependent response is strongly correlated with the local current density in the TKID inductor, although the thermal physics and geometry associated with the micromachined absorber also likely have a nonnegligible effect. Finally, we suggest analysis methods and design considerations that could reduce the severity of this position dependence, and we argue that there is significant potential for further improvement.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Volume

36

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2026.3680384

Local Download

Keywords

Quantum calorimeters, low temperature detectors, thermal kinetic inductance detectors

Citation

Fogarty Florang, I. , Dean, J. , Fowler, J. , Haugen, T. , Hoogerheide, S. , Jardin, D. , Mumm, H. , Nakamura, N. , Natale, M. , O'Neil, G. , Ortiz, N. , Paster, J. , Rao, T. , Roy, A. , Swetz, D. , Ullom, J. , Vissers, M. and Szypryt, P. (2026), A study of the position-dependent response of thermal kinetic inductance detectors through the use of cryogenic beam steering, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2026.3680384, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960720 (Accessed July 15, 2026)

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