U.S. flag
        An official website of the United States government
          Here’s how you know
        Here’s how you know**Official websites use .gov**
              
              A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
        **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
              
              A **lock** (  A locked padlock
) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. https://www.nist.gov/awards/2021-nancy-grace-roman-technology-fellowship-astrophysics-jake-connors
  Search NIST
    Search
              Menu

      


Close
    Topics
        All Topics
                                                        Advanced communications
                                                        Artificial intelligence
                                                        Bioscience
                                                        Buildings and construction
                                                        Chemistry
                                                        Climate
                                                        Cybersecurity
                                                        Electronics
                                                        EnergyEnvironment
                                                        Fire
                                                        Forensic science
                                                        Health
                                                        Information technology
                                                        Infrastructure
                                                        Manufacturing
                                                        Materials
                                                        Mathematics and statisticsMetrology
                                                        Nanotechnology
                                                        Neutron research
                                                        Performance excellence
                                                        Physics
                                                        Public safety
                                                        Resilience
                                                        Standards
                                                        Transportation
            Publications
            Labs & Major Programs
        Laboratories
                                Communications Technology Laboratory
                                  Engineering Laboratory
                                  Information Technology Laboratory
                                  Material Measurement Laboratory
                                  Physical Measurement LaboratoryUser Facilities
                                NIST Center for Neutron Research
                                  CNST NanoFab
                                                        Research Test Beds
                                                        Research Projects
                                                        Tools & InstrumentsMajor Programs
                                Baldrige Performance Excellence Program
                                  CHIPS for America Initiative
                                  Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
                                  Office of Advanced Manufacturing
                                  Special Programs Office
                                  Technology Partnerships Office
            Services & Resources
        Standards and Measurements
                                Calibration Services
                                  Laboratory Accreditation (NVLAP)
                                  Quality System
                                  Standard Reference Materials (SRMs)
                                  Standards.gov
                                  Time Services
                                  Office of Weights and MeasuresSoftware
                                                        Data
                                Chemistry WebBook
                                  National Vulnerability Database
                                  Physical Reference Data
                                  Standard Reference Data (SRD)
                                                        Storefront
                                                        License & PatentsComputer Security Resource Center (CSRC)
                                                        NIST Research Library
            News & Events
        News
                                                        Events
                                                        Blogs
                                                        Feature Stories
                                                        AwardsVideo Gallery
                                                        Image Gallery
                                                        Media Contacts
            About NIST
        About Us
                                Leadership
                                  Organization Structure
                                  Budget & Planning
                                                        Contact Us
                                                        Visit
                                                        Careers
                                Student programsWork with NIST
                                                        History
                                NIST Digital Archives
                                  NIST Museum
                                  NIST and the Nobel
                                                        Educational Resources
 
 AWARDS

2021 Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship in Astrophysics - Jake Connors
    
  Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship in Astrophysics
The program gives early career researchers the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to lead astrophysics flight instrumentation development projects and become principal investigators of future astrophysics missions. It also allows the fellows to develop innovative technologies that have the potential to enable major scientific breakthroughs, and to foster new talent by putting early-career instrument builders on a trajectory towards long-term positions.
Winner's Name
                                Jake Connors

Awarded
                                May 31, 2022

Awarding Organization
      
                          NASAJake Connors
  
      Astrophysics in the far-infrared (30μm < λ < 300μm) is relatively unexplored as compared to the optical (Hubble), near- and mid-infrared (James Webb Space Telescope) and sub-mm (ALMA & Cosmic Microwave Background experiments) bands which surround it. The far-infrared, however, contains a wealth of information about the formation of galaxies, stars and exoplanets, but is impossible to observe in from Earth due to atmospheric absorption. Future space-based far-infrared telescopes (currently proposed to launch in the early 2030’s) will require detectors at least an order of magnitude more sensitive than what is currently available.

This work will aim to improve the performance of transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors, a mature and widely used detector technology which utilizes a voltage-biased superconductor to sense the deposited power from photons incident on a thermally isolated island. The fundamental noise limit of a TES detector arises from the quantum nature of the heat transport in the island’s thermally isolating support structures and is a direct analogue to the electrical shot noise seen in resistors. In order to reduce this fundamental phonon transport noise floor, the thermal conductance of these structures must be greatly reduced, typically by the square of the desired reduction in detector noise. For less demanding applications, these thermal isolation structures have traditionally been made from long, narrow beams of a thin dielectric film. As one approaches the thermal conductances required for these ultra-low-noise detectors however, coherent phonon transport effects provide diminishing returns to simply increasing the beam length or decreasing the beam width, necessitating a novel design approach.

This work aims to increase TES detector sensitivity by explicitly utilizing these coherent phonon transport effects. This is done through (1) controlling the beam cross-sectional dimensions to limit the phonon mode set available for thermal transport, and (2) designing resonant, stepped impedance, or mode-converting structures to create phonon bandgaps in the TES thermal isolation beams. This design approach will utilize what are effectively 1-D phonon meta-materials to turn the thermal isolation beams into phononic filters, much in the same way RF and microwave electrical filters are designed. To realize these beam structures, the project aims to develop a novel fabrication process that leverages electron beam lithography (EBL) to define beam features as small as 50nm, much smaller than what is achievable with optical lithography.

In addition to the challenges presented by designing and fabricating these detectors, this work also aims to develop a test facility sufficiently “dark” such that these ultra-low-noise detectors can be characterized. The noise-equivalent-power (NEP) of the detectors this work aims to design, approaching 10-20 Watts/Hz1/2, is equivalent to the photon shot noise of only ~15 photons of wavelength 100μm arriving per second. To reach this level of darkness, special light-tight packaging, electrical feedthroughs, and optical calibration targets will be designed, fabricated and integrated into cryostats capable of cooling the detectors to 50mK.

If the goals of this project are achieved, these new detectors will transform far-infrared astrophysics, enabling studies of the masses, chemistries, and evolutionary dynamics of exoplanetary systems, the inheritance of water from star through planetary formation, and galaxy formation and evolution, revolutionizing our knowledge of where galaxies and habitable planets come from. The large increase in the sensitivity of these detectors will enable other and perhaps yet unpredictable applications as well, including in understanding the radiative environment inside quantum computers.
  Physics
      
            Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship in Astrophysics
The program gives early career researchers the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to lead astrophysics flight instrumentation development projects and become principal investigators of future astrophysics missions. It also allows the fellows to develop innovative technologies that have the potential to enable major scientific breakthroughs, and to foster new talent by putting early-career instrument builders on a trajectory towards long-term positions.
Winner's Name
                                Jake Connors

Awarded
                                May 31, 2022

Awarding Organization
      
                          NASA
                          Organizations
      
      NIST HeadquartersLaboratory ProgramsPhysical Measurement LaboratoryQuantum Sensors DivisionQuantum Sensors Group

    
    Contact
      
        

PML webmaster
  pml-webmaster@nist.gov

Created August 10, 2022, Updated August 22, 2022
 HEADQUARTERS
            100 Bureau Drive
              Gaithersburg, MD 20899301-975-2000
            Webmaster | Contact Us | Our Other Offices
        Twitter
            
Facebook
            
LinkedIn
            
Instagram
            
YouTube
            
Giphy
            
RSS Feed
            
Mailing List
                              How are we doing? Feedback

  
  Site Privacy
                      Accessibility
                      Privacy Program
                      Copyrights
                      Vulnerability Disclosure
                      No Fear Act Policy
                      FOIA
                      Environmental Policy
                      Scientific Integrity
                      Information Quality Standards
                      Commerce.gov
                      Science.gov
                      USA.gov
                      Vote.gov