Superconducting Detector Arrays for Passive Millimeter-Wave Terrestrial Imaging
Abstract
ABSTRACT:The U.S. Navy seeks technology to enable long-range imaging through obscurants such as clouds and fog. A particular area of interest is imaging technologies for the millimeter-wave band, where atmospheric windows allow for relatively long-range imaging, yet diffraction does not limit imageresolution as severely as at longer wavelengths. Passive millimeter-wave imaging technology has recently made great strides, mainly driven by developments in the field of astronomy. Detectors have achieved photon-statistics-limited sensitivity, and much progress has been made towardproducing and fielding large arrays of such sensitive detectors economically. A key new technology enabling these developments is the Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID), which was invented and first demonstrated at JPL and Caltech. A number of research groups worldwide are now pursuing MKID arrays for the next generation of astronomical instruments for the millimeter, submillimeter and far-infrared bands. The goal of the work proposed here is toexplore the use of MKID arrays for terrestrial millimeter-wave imaging for applications of interest to the Navy. For this purpose, Caltech will construct a compact and deployable passive millimeterwave imaging instrument, based on an array of feedhorn-coupled MKIDs optimized for a 300K background that would be suitable for testing in the field.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 19, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812846
Entities
People
- Jack Sayers
Organizations
- California Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy