Development of microwave kinetic inductance detectors and their readout system for LiteBIRD

Primordial gravitational waves generated by inflation have produced an odd-parity pattern B-mode in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. LiteBIRD (Light satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection) aims at detecting this B-mode polarization precisely. It requires about 2000 detectors capable of detecting a frequency range from 50 GHz to 250 GHz with ultra low noise. Superconducting detectors are suitable for this requirement. We have fabricated and tested microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) and developed a new readout system. We have designed antenna-coupled MKIDs. Quasi-particles are created by incident radiation and are detected as a change of the surface impedance of a superconductor strip. This change of the surface impedance is translated into the change of the resonant frequency of a microwave signal transmitted through the resonator. We also have developed a new readout system for MKIDs. The newly developed readout system is not only able to read out the amplitude and the phase data with the homodyne detection for multi-channels, but also provides a unique feature of tracking the resonant frequency of the target resonator. This mechanism enables us to detect signals with a large dynamic range. We report on the recent R&D status of the developing MKIDs and on the read-out system for LiteBIRD.