High resolution observations of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect are necessary to allow the use of clusters of galaxies as a probe for large scale structures at high redshifts. With its high resolution and dual-band capability at millimeter wavelengths, the NIKA camera can play a significant role in this context. NIKA is based on newly developed Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) and operates at the IRAM 30m telescope, Pico Veleta, Spain. In this paper, we give the status of the NIKA camera, focussing on the KID technology. We then present observations of three galaxy clusters: RX J1347.5-1145 as a demonstrator of the NIKA capabilities and the recent observations of CL J1226.9+3332 (z = 0.89) and MACS J0717.5+3745 (z = 0.55). We also discuss prospects for the final NIKA2 camera, which will have a 6.5 arcminute field of view with about 5000 detectors in two bands at 150 and 260 GHz.
@article{arxiv.1409.1137,
title = {High resolution SZ observations at the IRAM 30-m telescope with NIKA},
author = {R. Adam and A. Adane and P. Ade and P. Andrée and A. Beelen and B. Belier and A. Benoît and A. Bideaud and N. Billot and N. Boudou and O. Bourrion and M. Calvo and A. Catalano and G. Coiffard and B. Comis and A. D'Addabbo and F. -X. Désert and S. Doyle and J. Goupy and C. Kramer and S. Leclercq and J. F. Macías-Pérez and J. Martino and P. Mauskopf and F. Mayet and A. Monfardini and F. Pajot and E. Pascale and L. Perotto and E. Pointecouteau and N. Ponthieu and V. Revéret and L. Rodriguez and F. Ruppin and G. Savini and K. Schuster and A. Sievers and C. Tucker and R. Zylka},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1409.1137},
year = {2014}
}