Frequency domain multiplexing with the Xilinx ZCU111 RFSoC board

Abstract

At DIAS, in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin, we are developing visible and near-infrared Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) for astronomical applications. By designing an array of MKIDs with different resonant frequencies, an array of thousands of detectors can be readout with inherent frequency domain multiplexing (FDM). The Xilinx ZCU111 Radio Frequency System on Chip (RFSoC) Evaluation Kit is a very promising option not only for Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID) readout systems, but also for any application relying on frequency domain multiplexing. The board's on-chip data converters provide ample bandwidth for reading out up to 8,000 MKID resonators, with 2 MHz spacing, at a 1 MHz pixel sampling rate. Without additional resources, we roughly estimate the ZCU111’s field programmable gate array (FPGA) can analyse ~ 4,000 MKID pixels, at a cost of about €4.75 per pixel. We present initial progress from developing firmware for this MKID readout system.