Research


My research focuses on designing and building advanced instruments to explore the origins and evolution of our universe. I have led the development of highly sensitive detectors for microwave telescopes, which observe radiation from the earliest moments of the universe to help us better understand what happened during the "Big Bang" and pinpoint when the stars in the first galaxies were formed. 

Currently, I am contributing to two far-infrared missions aimed at deepening our understanding of galaxy evolution, star formation,  black hole growth, and planetary atmosphere formation. 

These scientific goals are enabled by large arrays of superconducting detectors, specifically transition-edge sensors (TESs) and kinetic-inductance detectors (KIDs),  which provide unparalleled sensitivity in this frequency range. These telescopes are designed to maintain ultra-low temperatures to ensure optimal performance of the detector arrays. I have included a brief overview of these telescopes below. For more details, feel free to click on the associated links.

The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a cryogenic balloon-borne telescope that will make 3D maps of our universe and improve our understanding of star formation and galaxy evolution in a cosmological context. EXCLAIM will be a pathfinder to demonstrate an innovative approach known as  intensity mapping. Particularly, EXCLAIM aims to map the redshifted emission of carbon monoxide and singly ionized carbon in cross-correlation with spectroscopic galaxy surveys in windows over the 0 < z < 3.5 redshift range. 

EXCLAIM features six integrated spectrometers, employing KIDs with spectral resolving power R=512 over the 420 – 540 GHz frequency range.  The cryogenic telescope and high sensitivity detectors allow EXCLAIM to access dark windows in the spectrum of emission from the upper atmosphere. EXCLAIM is currently under construction for a planned flight in the fall of 2025.

The PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) is a 1.8-m cryogenically-cooled, far-infrared observatory concept for the community in the 2030 decade. It provides broad continuous spectral coverage from 24 to 261 µm,  a critical region of the spectrum that reveals the origins of planetary atmospheres, evolution of galactic ecosystems, and the buildup of dust and metals over cosmic time.  The combination of a cold telescope (4.5 K) with 11,000 highly-sensitive KIDs provide PRIMA with unprecedented capability to see into the heart of dusty and obscured sources in our universe.  My team is currently working on developing a low-power space-qualified electronics capable of reading out 1000+ detectors on a single coaxial cable. PRIMA has been proposed as a NASA Astrophysics Probe Explorer, and pending selection, it will launch to the Earth-Sun L2 orbit in 2032.


The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is an array of microwave telescopes located high up in the Andes mountain in the Atacama Desert of Chile. Mapping 70% of the sky at four frequency bands centered at 40, 90, 150, and 220 GHz, CLASS aims to test the theory of cosmic inflation and determine when galaxies first lit up. CLASS uses superconducting TESs, cooled to near absolute zero temperature with helium refrigerators, to make high sensitivity measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization.  A key aspect of CLASS is the use of a novel modulation technology  that allows separation of desired CMB signal from atmospheric and instrumental noise. Check out this video to see how CLASS modulation works. CLASS has been operational since 2016, and we recently published the survey map from our first 40 GHz instrument.

The Primordial Inflation Polarization ExploreR (PIPER) is a balloon-borne mission designed to measure the CMB polarization on large angular scales in search of gravitational waves produced by inflation. It maps the sky at four frequency bands between 200 to 600 GHz, largely inaccessible from ground.  PIPER payload consists of twin telescopes inside an open 3500 L liquid helium bucket dewar. The fully cryogenic telescope design allows overnight flights from New Mexico to achieve sensitivity that would otherwise require long-duration Antarctic flights. PIPER completed two engineering flights in 2017 and 2019.

Selected Publications