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Xie, Ruixuan (Matt)

University of British Columbia

This thesis addresses the limitations of the conventional biasing method for microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID), which are widely used in submillimeter astronomy. Traditional biasing approaches rely on look-up table (LUT) waveform synthesis, resulting in restricted bandwidth and frequency resolution. MKIDs, which rely on frequency multiplexing with arbitrary frequency placement, demand a wide bandwidth and a high frequency resolution in their biasing. Moreover, the inability to dynamically adjust waveforms in real time reduces the effectiveness of MKID systems during sensitive astronomical measurements, compromising mapping performance. To overcome these challenges, this thesis investigates the use of advanced digital signal processing (DSP) techniques for biasing MKIDs. Specifically, the Prime-Cam instrument aboard the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) can benefit from a novel frequency synthesizer based on an overlap-channel polyphase synthesis filter bank (OC-PSB), implemented on a Xilinx Radio Frequency System on Chip (RFSoC). Unlike traditional LUT-based approaches, the OC-PSB enables high-performance, real-time, dynamic, efficient, and scalable bias signal synthesis, eliminates previous bandwidth and resolution constraints, and facilitates precise MKID tracking. Results demonstrate that this OC-PSB-based solution meets critical performance requirements, such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and frequency resolution while offering scalable bandwidth and dynamic biasing capabilities. Its suitability for FPGA implementation and parallel processing further enhances its viability for future MKID readout systems in submillimeter astronomy instrumentation. This thesis presents in-depth discussions of biasing requirements, DSP design, RFSoC implementation, and performance of the OC-PSB synthesizer, highlighting its design process, wideband synthesis capabilities, and potential in MKID readout systems.

Text

2024-12-23

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89979

Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/