The Néel IRAM KID Arrays (NIKA)

A. Monfardini¹, A. Benoit¹, A. Bideaud¹, N. Boudou¹,
M. Calvo¹, P. Camus¹, C. Hoffmann,¹ F.-X. Désert,² S. Leclercq³, M. Roesch³, K. Schuster,³ P. Ade⁴, S. Doyle⁴, P. Mauskopf⁴, E. Pascale⁴, C. Tucker^,4 A. Bourrion⁵, J. Macias-Perez⁵, C. Vescovi^,5 A. Barishev⁶, J. Baselmans⁶, L. Ferrari⁶, S.J.C. Yates,⁶ A. Cruciani⁷, P. De Bernardis⁷, S. Masi,⁷ C. Giordano⁸, B. Marghesin^,8 H.G. Leduc⁹, L. Swenson⁹

¹Institut Néel, CNRS & UJF, 25 rue des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble, France
²IPAG, UJF & CNRS-INSU, Grenoble Campus, Grenoble F-38041, France
³IRAM, Saint Martin d’Héres F-38406, France
⁴School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK
⁵LPSC, UJF & CNRS/IN2P3 & INPG, F-38026 Grenoble
⁶SRON, 3584 CA Utrecht and 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
⁷Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma La Sapienza, 00185 Roma, Italy
⁸Fondazione Bruno Kessler, I-38123 Povo (TN), Italy
⁹JPL-Caltech, Pasadena, California 91109, USA

Abstract - We are developing an instrument based on Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) known as the Néel IRAM KID Array (NIKA). Leveraging the experience gained from the first generation NIKA in 2009, an improved, dual-band (150 GHz and 240 GHz) instrument has been designed and tested at the Institut of RadioAstronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) 30-meter telescope in October 2010. The performances, in terms of sensitivity on-the-sky at 150 GHz, are already comparable to existing state-of-the-art bolometer-based instruments. NIKA represents thus the first real proof that KID are a viable technology for ground-based Astronomy. We will describe the instrument, the most recent results and the future plans for building a large resident mm-wave camera.

Submitted to ESNF and accepted on October 17, 2011.  Reference ST276, Category 4.
Published in Journal of Low Temperature Physics 167, Numbers 5-6,  834-839, (2012)