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In this paper, we present a study on the optimization of Au/Si surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensors for ultrasensitive chemical detection. Au/Si nanosensors are carried out at the wafer scale with a low-cost and quick fabrication method composed of an anisotropic reactive ion etching followed by an electron beam evaporation of a gold layer. For this investigation, the thickness of the gold layer varied from 10 to 50 nm, and thiophenol molecules were chosen as model molecules of which the concentration varied from 10 - 12 to 10 - 3  M. The studied optimization exploits the effect of the gold layer thickness on the detection limit of thiophenol molecules for a fixed geometry of Si nanopillar. For all the cases investigated here, detection limits between 9 × 10 - 12 and 3 × 10 - 8  M are experimentally found for the detection of thiophenol molecules with the Au/Si nanopillars. Moreover, the best detection limits are achieved with the thickest gold layer. Finally, a 3D FDTD-based numerical analysis confirmed the experimental results.

NIKA (New IRAM KID Arrays) is a dual-band imaging instrument installed at the IRAM (Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimetrique) 30-meter telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain). Two distinct Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) focal planes allow the camera to simultaneous image a field-of-view of about 2 arc-min in the bands 125 to 175 GHz (150 GHz) and 200 to 280 GHz (240 GHz). The sensitivity and stability achieved during the last commissioning Run in June 2013 allows opening the instrument to general observers. We report here the latest results, in particular in terms of sensitivity, now comparable to the state-of-the-art Transition Edge Sensors (TES) bolometers, relative and absolute photometry. We describe briefly the next generation NIKA-2 instrument, selected by IRAM to occupy, from 2015, the continuum imager/polarimeter slot at the 30-m telescope.

The next generations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) instruments will be dedicated to the detection and characterization of CMB B-modes. To measure this tiny signal, instruments need to control and minimize systematics. Signal modulation is one way to achieve such a control. A new generation of focal planes will include the entire detection chain. In this context, we present a superconducting coplanar switch driven by DC current. It consists of a superconducting microbridge which commutes between its on (superconducting) and off (normal metal) states, depending on the amplitude of the injected current compared to the critical current. If the current injected inside the bridge is lower than the critical current, the phase of the signal passing through the bridge is tunable. A first prototype of this component working as a switch and as a phase shifter at 10 GHz has been made. The principle, the setup, and the first measurements made at 4 K will be shown.

NIKA is a dual-band camera operating with 315 frequency multiplexed LEKIDs cooled at 100 mK. NIKA is designed to observe the sky in intensity and polarisation at 150 and 260 GHz from the IRAM 30-m telescope. It is a test-bench for the final NIKA2 camera. The incoming linear polarisation is modulated at four times the mechanical rotation frequency by a warm rotating multi-layer half- wave plate. Then, the signal is analyzed by a wire grid and finally absorbed by the lumped element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs). The small time constant ( < 1 ms ) of the LEKIDs combined with the modulation of the HWP enables the quasi-simultaneous measurement of the three Stokes parameters I , Q , U , representing linear polarisation. In this paper, we present the results of recent observational campaigns demonstrating the good performance of NIKA in detecting polarisation at millimeter wavelength.

The context of this study is the development of polarisation sensitive detectors in view of future Cosmic Microwave Background experiments. Our goal is to demonstrate the possibility to make a mm-wave polarisation analyser at 150 GHz using Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors (LEKIDs). Although LEKIDs are very attractive for the relative ease of fabrication, they have an intrinsic optical response which is weakly polarisation-senstive, i.e. orthogonal linear polarisations are absorbed with comparable efficiencies (with a separation typically not exceeding few dB). To overcome this difficulty, we achieve a polarised response by means of small ( ∼ λ × λ ) superconducting Nb wire-grids. Each grid is deposited on the rear side of the 300 micron Si substrate, on which 20 nm Al resonators are patterned, so that each pixel may in principle respond as an independent polarisation analyser. Simulations show encouraging results, with a deep (-20 dB) rejection of the unwanted polarisation. Although what we present here is not yet a polarimeter, this pilot study allows us to address some relevant questions that may be crucial in view of a full polarimetric architecture development. In particular, our first prototypes will allow to assess the behaviour of small grids, the interaction between adjacent polarised pixels, and to choose the most suitable resonator geometry. What we present here are preliminary design results about devices which are currently being realised, and soon ready for optical response characterisation.

We present preliminary results on characterisation of voltage biased superconducting bolometers with an NbSi alloy sensor. I ( V ) curves as well as complex impedance and noise measurements are carried out in a dilution fridge with a pulse tube as a first stage cooler. SQUIDs polarization and addressing are controlled by a cold ASIC in which a SiGe amplifier has been implemented. First characterisations were done on full membrane bolometers and show a noise level of about . Those detectors are developed for the QUBIC experiment, a B-modes telescope that will be deployed in Antactica in 2013.

New IRAM KID array 2 (NIKA2) is a camera dedicated to millimeter-wave astronomy based upon kilopixel arrays of kinetic inductance detectors [ 1 ] (KID). The pathfinder instrument, NIKA [ 2 ], has already shown state-of-the-art detector performance. NIKA2 builds upon this experience but goes one step further, increasing the total pixel count by a factor ∼ 10 while maintaining the same per pixel performance. For the next decade, this camera will be the resident photometric instrument of the Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimetrique (IRAM) 30 m telescopes in Sierra Nevada (Spain). In this paper, we give an overview of the main components of NIKA2 and describe the achieved detector performance. The camera has been permanently installed at the IRAM 30 m telescope in October 2015. It will be made accessible to the scientific community at the end of 2016, after a 1-year commissioning period. When this happens, NIKA2 will become a fundamental tool for astronomers worldwide.

As part of the Q&U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology instrument targeting the cosmic microwave background primordial B-modes, two kilo-pixel focal planes have been designed for a NEP of ∼ 3 × 10 - 17 W Hz adapted for ground-based observations. Those pixels are transition edge sensors (TESs) made of voltage-biased NbSi thin films with a critical temperature T c ∼ 400 mK and TiV absorbing grids. The TESs are coupled to a time-domain multiplexed electronics based on superconducting quantum interference devices and an additional SiGe cryogenic integrated circuit which provides a second multiplexing stage. In this paper, we briefly discuss the instrumental context of a quarter of focal plane (a 256-TES sub-array). Then, we present its typical manufacturing process and first test results at cryogenic temperature.

We have demonstrated in an earlier paper that LEKIDs can be used in a polarisation selective way in a filled array configuration. A polarised response can be achieved by means of thick Nb polarising grids lithographed on the rear side of a 300 microns silicon wafer, on which Al resonators have been previously patterned. In the most interesting scheme that we have investigated, a unit cell formed by 4 pixels (2 by 2) responds simultaneously to two orthogonal (cartesian) polarisation states. To assess the effectiveness of this detection scheme, we have fabricated a first generation of devices (9 small arrays, 20–25 pixels each, on a 4 ″ Silicon wafer) by using a double-sided mask aligner suitable for a precise positioning of the individual grids in correspondence of each resonator’s meander, for the different LEKID geometries. We describe here the realisation of these first devices. The construction of a dedicated polarimetric test bench is also described in this contribution, together with the first characterisation results. We consider this activity as a first and necessary step to evaluate the polarisation purity attainable with polarisation-sensitive pixels whose size is comparable to the wavelength. This is a fundamental information to drive further studies.

The next generations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) instruments will be dedicated to the detection and characterisation of CMB B-modes. To measure this tiny signal, instruments need to control and minimise systematics. Signal modulation is one way to achieve such a control. New generation of focal planes will include the entire detection chain on chip. In this context, we present a superconducting coplanar switch driven by DC current. It consists of a superconducting micro-bridge which commutes between its on (superconducting) and off (normal metal) states, depending on the amplitude of the current injection. To be effective, we have to use a high normal state resistivity superconducting material with a gap frequency higher than the frequencies of operation (millimeter waves). Several measurements were made at low temperature on NbN and yielded very high resistivities. Preliminary results of components dc behavior is shown. Thanks to its low power consumption, fast modulation and low weight, this component is a perfect candidate for future CMB space missions.