Post by SRON Space Research Organisation Netherlands

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲? You start with two decades of trial and error, hundreds of meters of aluminium tape, and a major breakthrough in solid-state physics. The Kinetic Inductance Detector (KID) is celebrating 20 years of development. Behind this milestone lies two decades of intense trial and error by SRON Space Research Organisation Netherlands and TU Delft. The team spent years engineering custom radiation-tight cooling setups, enduring shattering membranes with nanostructures, and hunting down unexplained system noise. Their perseverance led to a fundamental breakthrough in solid-state physics by uncovering quantum interactions within the superconducting material itself: an insight that also benefits quantum computing research worldwide. Today, this ultimate sensitivity is opening up the last unexplored frontiers of astronomy. Read the full longread development story (in NL and EN): https://lnkd.in/eFBCfRp2 #Astrophysics #SolidStatePhysics #SpaceTech #DutchInnovation #nanolithography