Microwave multiplexing on the Keck Array

We describe an on-sky demonstration of a microwave-multiplexing readout system in one of the receivers of the Keck Array, a polarimetry experiment observing the cosmic microwave background at the South Pole. During the austral summer of 2018–2019, we replaced the time-division multiplexing readout s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Low Temperature Physics
Main Authors: Cukierman, A., Basu Thakur, R., Bock, J. J., Hui, H., Kefeli, S., Moncelsi, L., Nguyen, H. T., O’Brient, R., Schillaci, A., Soliman, A., Steinbach, B., Wandui, A., Zhang, C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer 2020
Subjects:
Austral
South Pole
South pole
Online Access:https://authors.library.caltech.edu/98964/
https://authors.library.caltech.edu/98964/1/1909.01305.pdf
https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20190930-144824603
Description
Summary:We describe an on-sky demonstration of a microwave-multiplexing readout system in one of the receivers of the Keck Array, a polarimetry experiment observing the cosmic microwave background at the South Pole. During the austral summer of 2018–2019, we replaced the time-division multiplexing readout system with microwave-multiplexing components including superconducting microwave resonators coupled to radio frequency superconducting quantum interference devices at the sub-Kelvin focal plane, coaxial-cable plumbing and amplification between room temperature and the cold stages, and a SLAC Microresonator Radio Frequency system for the warm electronics. In the range 5–6 GHz, a single coaxial cable reads out 528 channels. The readout system is coupled to transition-edge sensors, which are in turn coupled to 150-GHz slot-dipole phased-array antennas. Observations began in April 2019, and we report here on an initial characterization of the system performance.

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