The NIKA2 Instrument, A Dual-Band Kilopixel KID Array for Millimetric Astronomy

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 \(\sim \)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.

This work has been partially funded by the ANR under the contract NIKA2, and has been partially supported by the LabEx FOCUS ANR-11-LABX-0013. We would like to thank the IRAM staff for their excellent support during the campaign. This work has been partially funded by the Foundation Nanoscience Grenoble, the ANR under the contracts “MKIDS” and “NIKA.” This work has been partially supported by the LabEx FOCUS ANR-11-LABX-0013. This work has benefited from the support of the European Research Council Advanced Grant ORISTARS under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (Grant Agreement No. 291294). The NIKA2 cryostat and the readout electronics have been designed and assembled by the Cryogenics and Electronics groups in Grenoble. In particular, we acknowledge the key contributions of P.E. Wolf, A. Gerardini, G. Donnier-Valentin, H. Rodenas, O. Exshaw, G. Simiand, C. Vescovi, E. Perbet, and S. Roudier. R.A. would like to thank the ENIGMASS French LabEx for funding this work.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Institut Néel, CNRS and Université de Grenoble, Grenoble, France

   M. Calvo, A. Benoît, A. Catalano, J. Goupy, A. Monfardini, N. Ponthieu, E. Barria, G. Bres, M. Grollier, G. Garde, J.-P. Leggeri, G. Pont & S. Triqueneaux

2. Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, Université Grenoble-Alpes, CNRS/IN2P3, 53, rue des Martyrs, Grenoble, France

   A. Catalano, A. Monfardini, R. Adam, O. Bourrion, J.-F. Macías-Pérez, M. Rebolo, A. Ritacco, J.-P. Scordilis, D. Tourres, B. Comis, F. Mayet, L. Perotto & A. Ritacco

3. Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), CNRS and Université de Grenoble, Grenoble, France

   N. Ponthieu & F.-X. Désert

4. Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), Grenoble, France

   A. Adane, G. Coiffard, S. Leclercq, K. Schuster & R. Zylka

5. Astronomy Instrumentation Group, University of Cardiff, Cardiff, UK

   S. Doyle, P. Mauskopf, C. Tucker, P. Ade, A. Bideaud & E. Pascale

6. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

   P. Mauskopf

7. Laboratoire AIM, CEA/IRFU, CNRS/INSU, Universit Paris Diderot, CEA-Saclay, 91191, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France

   P. André, V. Revéret & L. Rodriguez

8. Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), CNRS and Université Paris Sud, Orsay, France

   A. Beelen, J. Martino & F. Pajot

9. Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale (IEF), Université Paris Sud, Orsay, France

   B. Belier

10. Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimetrique (IRAM), Granada, Spain

    N. Billot, C. Kramer & A. Sievers

11. Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Assergi, (AQ), Italy

    A. D’Addabbo

12. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    G. Savini

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Calvo.

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