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Chris S. Benson

Publications and source records attributed to Chris S. Benson.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

A waveguide spectrometer for high-resolution millimeter-wave imaging

We present the design and development of a novel, compact integrated on-chip spectrometer operating at millimeter (mm) and submillimeter (sub-mm) wavelengths. The Superconducting Waveguide Integrated Submillimeter Spectrometer (SWISS) promises significant improvements in spectral resolution, optical efficiency, and frequency coverage over current mm-wave spectrometers by using a free-space rectangular waveguide architecture. Light is coupled in through the antenna front end, which separates the two polarizations and passes them to the waveguide spectrometer through a contactless metamaterial transition. Each waveguide spectrometer consists of a feedline coupled to a series of filters based on single-pole cavity resonators with varying resonant frequencies. To maximize packing density, the filter banks are oriented out of the focal plane, and an E-plane bend in the output from the cavity filters enables a planar and scalable construction. The output of each filter is coupled to a kinetic inductance detector (KID) to enable high multiplexing factors. The spectrometer is fabricated using stacks of silicon wafers etched with a deep reactive-ion etch (DRIE) and metallized. In these proceedings, we discuss current development on a SWISS prototype including measurements on a prototype antenna front end contactless transition and fabrication a prototype waveguide spectrometer.

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arXiv2026

On-Chip Resonator for Nonlinear Kinetic Inductance Characterisation and Future Spectrometry Applications

This work focuses on the development and demonstration of tunable superconducting on-chip resonator, leveraging the intrinsic current-dependent non-linear kinetic inductance of superconducting aluminium, and investigating the effect of oxygen content. Thin films are deposited using standard metal evaporation. We present results from a comprehensive study based on a series of evaporated Al thin films. This research aims to inform and constrain optimisation strategies for the design of mm-wave on-chip spectrometers, particularly regarding yield, resolution, and efficiency. By systematically varying film stoichiometry, we use a series of DC measurements to extract fundamental film properties such as resistivity, critical current and critical temperature. Furthermore, we employ low-loss DC-coupled microwave resonators to characterise both their microwave properties and the non-linear kinetic inductance, comparing these findings to a determined non-linear kinetic model. Finally, we discuss the possibility of usage in a parametric amplifier.

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arXiv2026

Low-noise Fourier Transform Spectroscopy Enabled by Superconducting On-Chip Filterbank Spectrometers

Historically employed spectroscopic architectures used for large field of view mapping spectroscopy in millimetere and sub-millimetre astronomy suffer from significant drawbacks. On-chip filterbank spectrometers are a promising technology in this respect; however, they must overcome an orders-of-magnitude increase in detector counts, efficiency loss due to dielectric properties, and stringent fabrication tolerances that currently limit scaling to resolutions of order 1000 over a large array. We propose coupling a medium-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer to a low-resolution filterbank spectrometer focal plane, which serves as a post-dispersion element. In this arrangement, medium resolution imaging spectroscopy is provided by the Fourier transform spectrometer, while the low resolution filterbank spectrometer serves to decrease the photon noise inherent in typical broadband Fourier transform spectrometer measurements by over an order of magnitude. This is achieved while maintaining the excellent imaging advantages of both architectures. We present predicted mapping speeds for a filterbank-dispersed Fourier transform spectrometer from a ground-based site and a balloon-borne platform. We also demonstrate the potential that an instrument of this type has for an R~1000 line intensity mapping experiment using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as an example platform. We demonstrate that a filterbank-dispersed Fourier transform spectrometer would be capable of R~1000 measurements of CO power spectra with a signal-to-noise ratio of 10--100 with surveys of $10^5$--$10^6$ spectrometer hours.

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arXiv2020

The Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer Spectral Feature Finder V. Rotational measurements of NGC 891

The ESA Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) Spectral Feature Finder (FF) project is an automated spectral feature fitting routine developed within the SPIRE instrument team to extract all prominent spectral features from all publicly available SPIRE FTS observations. In this work, we demonstrate the use of the FF information extracted from three observations of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891 to measure the rotation of NII and CI gas at Far-infrared frequencies in complement to radio observations of the HI 21cm line and the CO(1-0) transition as well as optical measurements of Halpha. We find that measurements of both NII and CI gas follow a similar velocity profile to that of HI and Halpha showing a correlation between neutral and ionized regions of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the disk of NGC 891.

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arXiv2020

The Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer Spectral Feature Finder III. Line Identification and Off-Axis Spectra

The ESA Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) Spectral Feature Finder (FF) project is an automated spectral feature fitting routine developed within the SPIRE instrument team to extract all prominent spectral features from all publicly available SPIRE FTS observations. We present the extension of the FF to include the off-axis detectors of the FTS in sparsely sampled single-pointing observations, the results of which have been ingested into the catalogue. We also present the results from an automated routine for identifications of the atomic/molecular transitions that correspond to the spectral features extracted by the FF. We use a template of 307 atomic fine structure and molecular lines that are commonly found in SPIRE FTS spectra for the cross-match. The routine makes use of information provided by the line identification to search for low signal-to-noise ratio features that have been excluded or missed by the iterative FF. In total, the atomic/molecular transitions of 178,942 lines are identified (corresponding to 83% of the entire FF catalogue), and an additional 33,840 spectral lines associated with missing features from SPIRE FTS observations are added to the FF catalogue.

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arXiv2020

The Herschel SPIRE Fourier Transform Spectrometer Spectral Feature Finder II. Estimating Radial Velocity of SPIRE Spectral Observation Sources

The Herschel SPIRE FTS Spectral Feature Finder (FF) detects significant spectral features within SPIRE spectra and employs two routines, and external references, to estimate source radial velocity. The first routine is based on the identification of rotational CO emission, the second cross-correlates detected features with a line template containing most of the characteristic lines in typical far infra-red observations. In this paper, we outline and validate these routines, summarise the results as they pertain to the FF, and comment on how external references were incorporated.

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