SLAC Microresonator RF (SMuRF) Electronics: A tone-tracking readout system for superconducting microwave resonator arrays

Understand

We describe the newest generation of the SLAC Microresonator RF (SMuRF) electronics, a warm digital control and readout system for microwave-frequency resonator-based cryogenic detector and multiplexer systems such as microwave SQUID multiplexers ($\mu$mux) or microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs).

• Ultra-sensitive measurements in particle physics and astronomy increasingly rely on large arrays of cryogenic sensors, which in turn necessitate highly multiplexed readout and accompanying room-temperature electronics.
• Microwave-frequency resonators are a popular tool for cryogenic multiplexing, with the potential to multiplex thousands of detector channels on one readout line.
• The SMuRF system provides the capability for reading out up to 3328 channels across a 4-8 GHz bandwidth.