Mazin Lab, led by Professor Ben Mazin, is a part of the Department of Physics at UCSB.  We are focused on using a unique detector technology called Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) for astronomy in the near infrared, optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray. These detectors allow us to determine the energy and arrival time of individual photons. The applications of this technology ranges from detecting Earth-like planets around nearby stars to untangling the emission mechanisms of pulsars and determining the redshift of billions of galaxies.

Top Left: A 10,000 pixel Optical/near-IR MKID Array. Photo credit: JPL NASA.  Top Right: A binary star imaged with DARKNESS. The inset show the binary with the coronagraphic mask removed.  Bottom Left:  Mazin Lab members at LTD-16 and new arrivals.  Bottom Right: DARKNESS being mounted to the Palomar 200" Hale Telescope cass cage.

News:

May, 2017: 2017 Ph.D. Seth Meeker received a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship (NPP) at NASA JPL

May, 2017: 2017 Ph.D. Paul Szypryt received a NRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (NPP) at NIST Boulder

April, 2017: Graduate Student Nicholas Zobrist Awareded a prestigious NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship (NSTRF)

April 7-11, 2017: Third observing run with DARKNESS

March, 2017: Graduate Student Isabel Lipartito awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

November 19-23, 2017: Second obs. run with DARKNESS

July 21, 2016: First light of the #DARKNESS camera!

March 19, 2015: Mazin’s CFA colloquium posted on youtube

Jun 12, 2014: Planet Finding camera MEC funded by Japan for SCExAO on Subaru

Nov 14, 2013: ARCONS in Gizmodo

Nov 11, 2013: ARCONS in Sky and Telescope

Nov 11, 2013: ARCONS in IEEE Spectrum

July 15, 2013: MKIDs in SPIE Newsroom

Office:  Broida Hall 2015H

Lab:  Broida Hall 3509

Phone/Fax: (805)893-3344

Shipping:

Department of Physics  

Bldg. 572 Room 1311          

University of California       

Santa Barbara, CA 93106 USA