NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forums |
Organized by: Prof. Lu Lu
SuperSpec is an compact on-chip spectrometer for mm and submm wavelength astronomy. Its small size, wide spectral bandwidth, and highly multiplexed detector readout will enable construction of powerful multi-object spectrometers for high-redshift observations. The design employs a filter bank consisting of a series of superconducting thin film circuit elements, each coupled to titanium nitride lumped-element kinetic inductance detector (KID.) I will discuss the design, optimization, and measured performance of our prototype devices, our upcoming observing run with the SuperSpec demonstration camera, and the observations that will become possible with a large multi-object-spectrometer based upon this technology. These future instruments will allow us to characterize thousands of high redshift dusty star forming galaxies and to measure to characterize star formation during the epoch of reionization through tomographic intensity mapping.