The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration has completed construction of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square
degree, 570 Megapixel CCD camera which will be mounted on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at CTIO. DECam will be
used to perform the 5000 sq. deg. Dark Energy Survey with 30% of the telescope time over a 5 year period. During the
remainder of the time, and after the survey, DECam will be available as a community instrument. All components of
DECam have been shipped to Chile and post-shipping checkout finished in Jan. 2012. Installation is in progress. A
summary of lessons learned and an update of the performance of DECam and the status of the DECam installation and
commissioning will be presented.
We describe a prototype of an illumination system, the Ring of Fire (ROF), which is used as part of an internal
calibration system for large focal plane detector arrays in TMA (Three Mirror Anastigmat) telescope designs. Such
designs have been proposed for the SNAP (SuperNova Acceleration Probe) version of a Joint Dark Energy Mission
(JDEM). The ROF system illuminates the focal plane with a light beam the closely matches that of the telescope and is
used for creating high spatial frequency flat fields and monitoring filter bandpasses for experiments that demand a highly
accurate characterization of the detectors. We present measurements of a mockup of this prototype ROF design
including studies in variations in illumination across a large focal plane.
The Dark Energy Survey Camera (DECam) will be comprised of a mosaic of 74 charge-coupled devices (CCDs). The
Dark Energy Survey (DES) science goals set stringent technical requirements for the CCDs. The CCDs are provided by
LBNL with valuable cold probe data at 233 K, providing an indication of which CCDs are more likely to pass. After
comprehensive testing at 173 K, about half of these qualify as science grade. Testing this large number of CCDs to
determine which best meet the DES requirements is a very time-consuming task. We have developed a multistage
testing program to automatically collect and analyze CCD test data. The test results are reviewed to select those CCDs
that best meet the technical specifications for charge transfer efficiency, linearity, full well capacity, quantum efficiency,
noise, dark current, cross talk, diffusion, and cosmetics.
Large mosaic multiCCD camera is the key instrument for modern digital sky survey. DECam is an extremely
red sensitive 520 Megapixel camera designed for the incoming Dark Energy Survey (DES). It is consist of sixty
two 4k2k and twelve 2k2k 250-micron thick fully-depleted CCDs, with a focal plane of 44 cm in diameter and
a eld of view of 2.2 square degree. It will be attached to the Blanco 4-meter telescope at CTIO. The DES will
cover 5000 square-degrees of the southern galactic cap in 5 color bands (g, r, i, z, Y) in 5 years starting from
2011.
To achieve the science goal of constraining the Dark Energy evolution, stringent requirements are laid down
for the design of DECam. Among them, the
atness of the focal plane needs to be controlled within a 60-micron
envelope in order to achieve the specied PSF variation limit. It is very challenging to measure the
atness of
the focal plane to such precision when it is placed in a high vacuum dewar at 173 K. We developed two image
based techniques to measure the
atness of the focal plane. By imaging a regular grid of dots on the focal plane,
the CCD oset along the optical axis is converted to the variation the grid spacings at dierent positions on the
focal plane. After extracting the patterns and comparing the change in spacings, we can measure the
atness
to high precision. In method 1, the regular dots are kept in high sub micron precision and cover the whole focal
plane. In method 2, no high precision for the grid is required. Instead, we use a precise XY stage moves the
pattern across the whole focal plane and comparing the variations of the spacing when it is imaged by dierent
CCDs. Simulation and real measurements show that the two methods work very well for our purpose, and are
in good agreement with the direct optical measurements.
The Dark Energy Camera is an wide field imager currently
under construction for the Dark Energy Survey.
This instrument will use fully depleted 250 μm thick
CCD detectors selected for their higher quantum efficiency
in the near infrared with respect to thinner devices.
The detectors were developed by LBNL using
high resistivity Si substrate. The full set of scientific
detectors needed for DECam has now been fabricated,
packaged and tested. We present here the results of
the testing and characterization for these devices and
compare these results with the technical requirements
for the Dark Energy Survey.
The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration is building the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square degree, 520
Megapixel CCD camera which will be mounted on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at CTIO. DECam will be used to
perform the 5000 sq. deg. Dark Energy Survey with 30% of the telescope time over a 5 year period. During the
remainder of the time, and after the survey, DECam will be available as a community instrument. Construction of
DECam is well underway. Integration and testing of the major system components has already begun at Fermilab and
the collaborating institutions.
We describe the results obtained cleaning the surface of DECam CCD detectors with a new electrostatic dissipative
formulation of First ContactTM polymer from Photonic Cleaning Technologies. We demonstrate that
cleaning with this new product is possible without ESD damage to the sensors and without degradation of the
antireflective coating used to optimize the optical performance of the detector. We show that First ContactTM
is more effective for cleaning a CCD than the commonly used acetone swab.
DECam is a 520 Mpix, 3 square-deg FOV imager being built for the Blanco 4m Telescope at CTIO. This facility
instrument will be used for the "Dark Energy Survey" of the southern galactic cap. DECam has chosen 250 μm thick
CCDs, developed at LBNL, with good QE in the near IR for the focal plane. In this work we present the characterization
of these detectors done by the DES team, and compare it to the DECam technical requirements. The results demonstrate
that the detectors satisfy the needs for instrument.
We describe the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which will be the primary instrument used in the Dark Energy Survey.
DECam will be a 3 sq. deg. mosaic camera mounted at the prime focus of the Blanco 4m telescope at the Cerro-Tololo
International Observatory (CTIO). DECam includes a large mosaic CCD focal plane, a five element optical corrector,
five filters (g,r,i,z,Y), and the associated infrastructure for operation in the prime focus cage. The focal plane consists of
62 2K x 4K CCD modules (0.27"/pixel) arranged in a hexagon inscribed within the roughly 2.2 degree diameter field of
view. The CCDs will be 250 micron thick fully-depleted CCDs that have been developed at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL). Production of the CCDs and fabrication of the optics, mechanical structure, mechanisms,
and control system for DECam are underway; delivery of the instrument to CTIO is scheduled for 2010.
A description of the plans and infrastructure developed for CCD testing and characterization for the DES focal plane detectors is presented. Examples of the results obtained are shown and discussed in the context of the device requirements for the survey instrument.
Michael Sholl, Michael Lampton, Greg Aldering, W. Althouse, R. Amanullah, James Annis, Pierre Astier, Charles Baltay, E. Barrelet, Stephane Basa, Christopher Bebek, Lars Bergstrom, Gary Bernstein, Manfred Bester, Bruce Bigelow, Roger Blandford, Ralph Bohlin, Alain Bonissent, Charles Bower, Mark Brown, Myron Campbell, William Carithers, Eugene Commins, W. Craig, C. Day, F. DeJongh, Susana Deustua, T. Diehl, S. Dodelson, Anne Ealet, Richard Ellis, W. Emmet, D. Fouchez, Josh Frieman, Andrew Fruchter, D. Gerdes, L. Gladney, Gerson Goldhaber, Ariel Goobar, Donald Groom, Henry Heetderks, M. Hoff, Stephen Holland, M. Huffer, L. Hui, Dragan Huterer, B. Jain, Patrick Jelinsky, Armin Karcher, Steven Kahn, Steven Kent, Alex Kim, William Kolbe, B. Krieger, G. Kushner, N. Kuznetsova, Robin Lafever, J. Lamoureux, Olivier Le Fevre, Michael Levi, P. Limon, Huan Lin, Eric Linder, Stewart Loken, W. Lorenzon, Roger Malina, J. Marriner, P. Marshall, R. Massey, Alain Mazure, Timothy McKay, Shawn McKee, Ramon Miquel, Nicholas Morgan, E. Mörtsell, Nick Mostek, Stuart Mufson, J. Musser, Peter Nugent, Hakeem Oluseyi, Reynald Pain, Nick Palaio, David Pankow, John Peoples, Saul Perlmutter, Eric Prieto, David Rabinowitz, Alexandre Refregier, Jason Rhodes, Natalie Roe, D. Rusin, V. Scarpine, Michael Schubnell, Gérard Smadja, Roger Smith, George Smoot, Jeffrey Snyder, Anthony Spadafora, A. Stebbins, Christopher Stoughton, Andrew Szymkowiak, Gregory Tarlé, Keith Taylor, A. Tilquin, Andrew Tomasch, Douglas Tucker, D. Vincent, Henrik von der Lippe, Jean-Pierre Walder, Guobin Wang, W. Wester
Mission requirements, the baseline design, and optical systems budgets for the SuperNova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP) telescope are presented. SNAP is a proposed space-based experiment designed to study dark energy and alternate explanations of the acceleration of the universe’s expansion by performing a series of complementary systematics-controlled astrophysical measurements. The goals of the mission are a Type Ia supernova Hubble diagram and a wide-field weak gravitational lensing survey. A 2m widefield three-mirror telescope feeds a focal plane consisting of 36 CCDs and 36 HgCdTe detectors and a high-efficiency, low resolution integral field spectrograph. Details of the maturing optical system, with emphasis on structural stability during terrestrial testing as well as expected environments during operations at L2 are discussed. The overall stray light mitigation system, including illuminated surfaces and visible objects are also presented.
Anne Ealet, Eric Prieto, Alain Bonissent, Roger Malina, Gérard Smadja, A. Tilquin, Gary Bernstein, Stephane Basa, D. Fouchez, Olivier Le Fevre, Alain Mazure, Greg Aldering, R. Amanullah, Pierre Astier, E. Barrelet, Christopher Bebek, Lars Bergstrom, Manfred Bester, Roger Blandford, Ralph Bohlin, Charles Bower, Mark Brown, Myron Campbell, William Carithers, Eugene Commins, W. Craig, C. Day, F. DeJongh, Susana Deustua, H. Diehl, S. Dodelson, Richard Ellis, M. Emmet, Josh Frieman, Andrew Fruchter, D. Gerdes, L. Gladney, Gerson Goldhaber, Ariel Goobar, Donald Groom, Henry Heetderks, M. Hoff, Stephen Holland, M. Huffer, L. Hui, Dragan Huterer, B. Jain, Patrick Jelinsky, Armin Karcher, Steven Kent, Steven Kahn, Alex Kim, William Kolbe, B. Krieger, G. Kushner, N. Kuznetsova, Robin Lafever, J. Lamoureux, Michael Lampton, Michael Levi, P. Limon, Huan Lin, Eric Linder, Stewart Loken, W. Lorenzon, J. Marriner, P. Marshall, R. Massey, Timothy McKay, Shawn McKee, Ramon Miquel, Nicholas Morgan, E. Mörtsell, Nick Mostek, Stuart Mufson, J. Musser, Peter Nugent, Hakeem Oluseyi, Reynald Pain, Nick Palaio, David Pankow, John Peoples, Saul Perlmutter, David Rabinowitz, Alexandre Refregier, Jason Rhodes, Natalie Roe, D. Rusin, V. Scarpine, Michael Schubnell, Michael Sholl, Roger Smith, George Smoot, Jeffrey Snyder, Anthony Spadafora, A. Stebbins, Christopher Stoughton, Andrew Szymkowiak, Gregory Tarlé, Keith Taylor, Andrew Tomasch, Douglas Tucker, Henrik von der Lippe, D. Vincent, Jean-Pierre Walder, Guobin Wang, W. Wester
A well-adapted spectrograph concept has been developed for the SNAP (SuperNova/Acceleration Probe) experiment. The goal is to ensure proper identification of Type Iz supernovae and to standardize the magnitude of each candidate by determining explosion parameters. The spectrograph is also a key element for the calibration of the science mission. An instrument based on an integral field method with the powerful concept of imager slicing has been designed and is presented in this paper. The spectrograph concept is optimized to have high efficiency and low spectral resolution (R~100), constant through the wavelength range (0.35-1.7μm), adapted to the scientific goals of the mission.
The development and initial characterization of an active matrix, flat-panel imager (AMFPI) incorporating a newly designed, indirect-detection array is reported. The array has a 127 micrometers pitch, a 1536 X 1920 pixel format, and incorporates a pixel design comprising a discrete a-Si:H photodiode coupled to an a-Si:H thin-film transistor. The array represents an aggressive redesign of a previously reported array having the same pitch and format. In particular, this new array was designed with the dual goals of maximizing the optical fill factor so as to enhance sensitivity as well as minimizing the data line capacitance so as to reduce additive electronic noise. Although constrained by the sue of discrete photodiodes, the new design nevertheless successfully achieves a fill factor of approximately 56 percent along with a data line capacitance of approximately 50 pF which are significant improvements over the previous design. In this paper, considerations in the design of such arrays are reviewed and performance results of the AMFPI, based on initial empirical results and theoretical considerations, are presented. Finally, possible trends in the future development of indirect and direct detection AMFPIs are described.
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