Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID) arrays are currently being developed and deployed for astronomical applications in the visible and near infrared and for sub-millimetre astronomy. One of the main challenges of MKIDs is that large arrays would exhibit a pixel yield, defined as the percentage of individually distinguishable pixels to the total number of pixels, of 75 80 %.1 Imperfections arising during the fabrication can induce an uncontrolled shift in the resonance frequency of individual resonators which end up resonating at the same frequency of a different resonator. This makes a number of pixels indistinguishable and therefore unusable for imaging. This paper proposes an approach to individually re-tune the colliding resonators in order to remove the degeneracy and increase the number of MKIDs with unique resonant frequencies. The frequency re-tuning is achieved through a DC bias of the resonator since the kinetic inductance of a superconducting thin film is current dependent and its dependence is non linear. Even though this approach has been already proposed,2 our innovative pixel design may solve two issues previously described in literature such as non-negligible electromagnetic losses to the DC bias line, and the multiplexibility of multiple resonators on a single feed-line.
Point Contact Andreev Reflection (PCAR) is one of the few available methods for the determination of the Fermi level spin polarisation in metals and degenerate semiconductors. It has traditionally been applied at fixed (liquid He) temperatures, using pure niobium as the superconductor, and at essentially zero applied magnetic fields, all of which limit the amount of information that it can provide – i.e. do not allow for the extraction of the sign of the spin polarisation and make the assignment of the transport regime to ballistic or diffusive almost impossible.
Here a series of experiments is described, aimed at the expansion of this parameter space to higher magnetic fields and to higher temperatures. These require redesigned experimental setups and the use of higher performance superconductors. Demonstrations are described of the determination of the sign of the spin polarisation, at fields of more than 5 Tesla using a low-Z superconductor, as well as operations beyond 9.2 K. Doubts about the practical reliability of the PCAR technique are dispersed using systematic series of samples – the heavy rare-earths and comparisons with alternatives, such as spin-polarised field emission, photo-emission and Tedrow-Meservey tunnelling.
The specific material examples presented include 3d-metals, order-disorder transition alloys and zero-moment half-metals – Fe, FeAl and MnRuGa, alternative low-Z and high-Z superconductors – MgB2 and NbTi, and magnetic topological insulators, such as Cr- and V-doped (Bi1-xSbx)2Te3.
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