303 research outputs found
Performance of Hybrid NbTiN-Al Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors as Direct Detectors for Sub-millimeter Astronomy
In the next decades millimeter and sub-mm astronomy requires large format
imaging arrays and broad-band spectrometers to complement the high spatial and
spectral resolution of the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array. The
desired sensors for these instruments should have a background limited
sensitivity and a high optical efficiency and enable arrays thousands of pixels
in size. Hybrid microwave kinetic inductance detectors consisting of NbTiN and
Al have shown to satisfy these requirements. We present the second generation
hybrid NbTiN-Al MKIDs, which are photon noise limited in both phase and
amplitude readout for loading levels fW. Thanks to the
increased responsivity, the photon noise level achieved in phase allows us to
simultaneously read out approximately 8000 pixels using state-of-the-art
electronics. In addition, the choice of superconducting materials and the use
of a Si lens in combination with a planar antenna gives these resonators the
flexibility to operate within the frequency range THz. Given
these specifications, hybrid NbTiN-Al MKIDs will enable astronomically usable
kilopixel arrays for sub-mm imaging and moderate resolution spectroscopy.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and
Instrumentation 2014: Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors
and Instrumentation for Astronomy VI
Conceptual Problems of Fractal Cosmology
This report continues recent Peebles-Turner debate "Is cosmology solved?" and
considers the first results for Sandage's program for "Practical cosmology". A
review of conceptual problems of modern cosmological models is given, among
them: the nature of the space expansion; recession velocities of distant
galaxies more than velocity of light; cosmological Friedmann force; continuous
creation of gravitating mass in Friedmann's equation; cosmological pressure is
not able to produce a work; cosmological gravitational frequency shift;
Friedmann-Holtsmark paradox; the problem of the cosmological constant;
Einstein's and Mandelbrot's Cosmological Principles; fractality of observed
galaxy distribution; Sandage's 21st problem: Hubble - de Vaucouleurs paradox;
quantum nature of gravity force.Comment: 17 pages, no Figures, report presented at Gamow Memorial Conference,
August 1999, St.-Petersburg, Russi
Photon noise limited radiation detection with lens-antenna coupled Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors
Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) have shown great potential for
sub-mm instrumentation because of the high scalability of the technology. Here
we demonstrate for the first time in the sub-mm band (0.1...2 mm) a photon
noise limited performance of a small antenna coupled MKID detector array and we
describe the relation between photon noise and MKID intrinsic
generation-recombination noise. Additionally we use the observed photon noise
to measure the optical efficiency of detectors to be 0.8+-0.2.Comment: The following article has been submitted to AP
An SIS-based sideband-separating heterodyne mixer optimized for the 600 to 720 GHz band
The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is the largest radio astronomical enterprise ever proposed. When completed, each of its 64 constituting radio-telescopes will be able to hold 10 heterodyne receivers covering the spectroscopic windows allowed by the atmospheric transmission at the construction site, the altiplanos of the northern Chilean Andes. In contrast to the sideband-separating (2SB) receivers being developed at low frequencies, double-side-band (DSB) receivers are being developed for the highest two spectroscopic windows (bands 9 and 10). Despite of the well known advantages of 2SB mixers over their DSB counterparts, they have not been implemented at the highest-frequency bands as the involved dimensions for some of the radio frequency components are prohibitory small. However, the current state-of-the-art micromachining technology has proved that the structures necessary for this development are attainable. Here we report the design, modeling, realization, and characterization of a 2SB mixer for band 9 of ALMA (600 to 720 GHz). At the heart of the mixer, two superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions are used as mixing elements. The constructed instrument presents an excellent performance as shown by two important figures of merit: noise temperature of the system and side band ratio, both of them within ALMA specifications
Full characterization and analysis of a terahertz heterodyne receiver based on a NbN hot electron bolometer
We present a complete experimental characterization of a quasioptical twin-slot antenna coupled small area (1.0×0.15 µm^2) NbN hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer compatible with currently available solid state tunable local oscillator (LO) sources. The required LO power absorbed in the HEB is analyzed in detail and equals only 25 nW. Due to the small HEB volume and wide antenna bandwidth, an unwanted direct detection effect is observed which decreases the apparent sensitivity. Correcting for this effect results in a receiver noise temperature of 700 K at 1.46 THz. The intermediate frequency (IF) gain bandwidth is 2.3 GHz and the IF noise bandwidth is 4 GHz. The single channel receiver stability is limited to 0.2–0.3 s in a 50 MHz bandwidth
Unfolded protein response is involved in the pathology of human congenital hypothyroid goiter and rat non-goitrous congenital hypothyroidism
Copyright: Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.The unfolded protein response (UPR) is an intracellular signaling pathway that regulates the protein folding and processing capacity of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The UPR is induced by the pharmacological agents that perturb ER functions but is also activated upon excessive accumulation of the mutant secretory proteins that are unable to attain correct three-dimensional structure and are thus retained in the ER. Such defects in intracellular protein transport underlie the development of a number of phenotypically diverse inherited pathologies, termed endoplasmic reticulum storage diseases (ERSD). We have studied UPR development in two similar ERSDs, human congenital goiter caused by the C1264R and C1996S mutations in the thyroglobulin (Tg) gene and non-goitrous congenital hypothyroidism in rdw dwarf rats determined by the G2320R Tg mutation. In both cases, these mutations rendered Tg incapable of leaving the ER. A major ER chaperone immunoglobulin-binding protein (BiP), and a novel putative escort chaperone endoplasmic reticulum protein 29 KDa (ERp29) were found to be associated with Tg, which might be interpreted as the contribution of the quality control machinery to the previously shown retention of Tg in the ER. We have extended our earlier observations of ER chaperone induction with the identification of the additional ER (ERp29, ERp72, calreticulin, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI)), cytoplasmic (heat shock protein (HSP)70, HSP90) and mitochondrial (mtHSP70) upregulated chaperones and folding enzymes. Activation of the transcriptional arm of UPR, as judged by the appearance of the spliced (active) form of X-box binding protein (XBP1) and processed activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) transcription factors was suggested to contribute to the overexpression of the ER chaperones. The processing of ATF6 was observed in both human and rat tissues with Tg mutations. Whereas, in human tissues, weak splicing of XBP1 mRNA was detected only in the C1264R mutant, all rat thyroids including wild-type contained significant amounts of the spliced form of XBP1 as opposed to human liver and rat brain tissues, implying the existence of a previously unknown tissue-specific regulation of XBP1 processing.publishersversionPeer reviewe
Calibration Scheme for Large Kinetic Inductance Detector Arrays Based on Readout Frequency Response
Microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) provides a way to build large
ground based sub-mm instruments such as NIKA and A-MKID. For such instruments,
therefore, it is important to understand and characterize the response to
ensure good linearity and calibration over wide dynamic range. We propose to
use the MKID readout frequency response to determine the MKID responsivity to
an input optical source power. A signal can be measured in a KID as a change in
the phase of the readout signal with respect to the KID resonant circle.
Fundamentally, this phase change is due to a shift in the KID resonance
frequency, in turn due to a radiation induced change in the quasiparticle
number in the superconducting resonator. We show that shift in resonant
frequency can be determined from the phase shift by using KID phase versus
frequency dependence using a previously measured resonant frequency. Working in
this calculated resonant frequency, we gain near linearity and constant
calibration to a constant optical signal applied in a wide range of operating
points on the resonance and readout powers. This calibration method has three
particular advantages: first, it is fast enough to be used to calibrate large
arrays, with pixel counts in the thousand of pixels; second, it is based on
data that are already necessary to determine KID positions; third, it can be
done without applying any optical source in front of the array.Comment: Accepted to Journal of Low Temperature Physics LTD16 Special Issue,
Low Temperature Detector 16 Conference Proceedings,manuscript number:
#JLTP-D-15-00356R1, 6 pages, 5 figure
The Non-Uniform Distribution of Galaxies from Data of the SDSS DR7 Survey
We have analyzed the spatial distribution of galaxies from the release of the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey of galactic redshifts (SDSS DR7), applying the
complete correlation function (conditional density), two-point conditional
density (cylinder), and radial density methods. Our analysis demonstrates that
the conditional density has a power-law form for scales lengths 0.5-30 Mpc/h,
with the power-law corresponding to the fractal dimension D = 2.2+-0.2; for
scale lengths in excess of 30 Mpc/h, it enters an essentially flat regime, as
is expected for a uniform distribution of galaxies. However, in the analysis
applying the cylinder method, the power-law character with D = 2.0+-0.3
persists to scale lengths of 70 Mpc/h. The radial density method reveals
inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution of galaxies on scales of 200 Mpc/h
with a density contrast of two, confirming that translation invariance is
violated in the distribution of galaxies to 300 Mpc/h, with the sampling depth
of the SDSS galaxies being 600 Mpc/h.Comment: 22 page
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