Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2010-07-05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
10 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Proc. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, San Diego, 2010
Scientific paper
We report on the development of ARCONS, the ARray Camera for Optical to Near-IR Spectrophotometry. This photon counting integral field unit (IFU), being built at UCSB and Caltech with detectors fabricated at JPL, will use a unique, highly multiplexed low temperature detector technology known as Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs). These detectors, which operate at 100 mK, should provide photon counting with energy resolution of R = E/{\delta}E > 20 and time resolution of a microsecond, with a quantum efficiency of around 50%. We expect to field the instrument at the Palomar 200" telescope in the first quarter of 2011 with an array containing 1024 pixels in a 32x32 pixel form factor to yield a field of view of approximately 10x10 arcseconds. The bandwidth of the camera is limited by the rising sky count rate at longer wavelengths, but we anticipate a bandwidth of 0.35 to 1.35 {\mu}m will be achievable. A simple optical path and compact dewar utilizing a cryogen-free adiabatic demagnetization refridgerator (ADR) allows the camera to be deployed quickly at Naysmith or Coude foci at a variety of telescopes. A highly expandable software defined radio (SDR) readout that can scale up to much larger arrays has been developed.
Bumble Bruce
Golwala Sunil
Mazin Benjamin A.
McHugh Sean
Moore David
No associations
LandOfFree
ARCONS: A highly multiplexed superconducting optical to near-IR camera does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with ARCONS: A highly multiplexed superconducting optical to near-IR camera, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and ARCONS: A highly multiplexed superconducting optical to near-IR camera will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-215490