We give an overview of the baseline detector system for SAFARI, the prime focal-plane instrument on board the proposed space infrared observatory, SPICA. SAFARI's detectors are based on superconducting Transition Edge Sensors (TES) to provide the extreme sensitivity (dark NEP≤2×10^-19 W/√Hz) needed to take advantage of SPICA's cold (<8 K) telescope. In order to read out the total of ~3500 detectors we use frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) with baseband feedback. In each multiplexing channel, a two-stage SQUID preamplifier reads out 160 detectors. We describe the detector system and discuss some of the considerations that informed its design.

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Michael D. Audley, Gert de Lange, Jian-Rong Gao, Brian D. Jackson, Richard A. Hijmering, Marcel L. Ridder, Marcel P. Bruijn, Peter R. Roelfsema, Peter A. R. Ade, Stafford Withington, Charles M. Bradford, and Neal A. Trappe, "The SAFARI detector system," Proc. SPIE 10708, Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IX, 107080K (Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation: June 13, 2018; Published: 9 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313361.