Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors at Subaru

Speaker: Olivier Guyon (Subaru/U. Arizona)

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) use low-temperature superconducting material to detect individual photons.
MKIDs-based arrays have recently demonstrated photon-counting performance with wavelength resolution in visible and near-IR
light. The Subaru telescope Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument team is working with UC Santa Barbara's
MKIDs group to combine high performance coronagraphy and MKIDs detectors to image exoplanets. I will describe how this
combination will provide a very significant improvement in high contrast imaging on Subaru Telescope, and will allow direct
imaging and spectroscopy of Earth-size habitable planets on 30-m class telescopes.