TY - JOUR
T1 - Delta-doped electron-multiplying CCDs for FIREBall-2
AU - Kyne, Gillian
AU - Hamden, Erika T.
AU - Nikzad, Shouleh
AU - Hoadley, Keri
AU - Jewell, April
AU - Jones, Todd
AU - Hoenk, Michael
AU - Cheng, Samuel
AU - Martin, D. Christopher
AU - Lingner, Nicole
AU - Schiminovich, David
AU - Milliard, Bruno
AU - Grange, Robert
AU - Daigle, Olivier
N1 - Funding Information:
The research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The authors would like to acknowledge generous and excellent collaborative support from e2v including A. Reinheimer, P. Jerram, P. Jorden, and their team on the 2-D doped EMCCDs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - We present the status of on-going detector development efforts for our joint NASA/Centre National d'Études Spatiales balloon-borne UV multiobject spectrograph, the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2; FB-2). FB-2 demonstrates a UV detector technology, the delta-doped electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD), in a low-risk suborbital environment, to prove the performance of EMCCDs for future space missions and technology readiness level advancement. EMCCDs can be used in photon-counting mode to achieve extremely low readout noise (<1 electron). Our testing has focused on reducing clock-induced-charge (CIC) through wave shaping and well-depth optimization with a Nüvü V2 CCCP controller, measuring CIC at 0.001 e-/pixel/frame. This optimization also includes methods for reducing dark current, via cooling, and substrate voltage levels. We discuss the challenges of removing cosmic rays, which are also amplified by these detectors, as well as a data reduction pipeline designed for our noise measurement objectives. FB-2 flew in 2018, providing the first time an EMCCD, was used for UV observations in the stratosphere. FB-2 is currently being built up to fly again in 2020, and improvements are being made to the EMCCD to continue optimizing its performance for better noise control.
AB - We present the status of on-going detector development efforts for our joint NASA/Centre National d'Études Spatiales balloon-borne UV multiobject spectrograph, the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2; FB-2). FB-2 demonstrates a UV detector technology, the delta-doped electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD), in a low-risk suborbital environment, to prove the performance of EMCCDs for future space missions and technology readiness level advancement. EMCCDs can be used in photon-counting mode to achieve extremely low readout noise (<1 electron). Our testing has focused on reducing clock-induced-charge (CIC) through wave shaping and well-depth optimization with a Nüvü V2 CCCP controller, measuring CIC at 0.001 e-/pixel/frame. This optimization also includes methods for reducing dark current, via cooling, and substrate voltage levels. We discuss the challenges of removing cosmic rays, which are also amplified by these detectors, as well as a data reduction pipeline designed for our noise measurement objectives. FB-2 flew in 2018, providing the first time an EMCCD, was used for UV observations in the stratosphere. FB-2 is currently being built up to fly again in 2020, and improvements are being made to the EMCCD to continue optimizing its performance for better noise control.
KW - clock-induced-charge
KW - clocking
KW - dark current
KW - delta-doped
KW - detector
KW - electron-multiplying CCD
KW - photon counting
KW - ultraviolet
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U2 - 10.1117/1.JATIS.6.1.011007
DO - 10.1117/1.JATIS.6.1.011007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85082953009
VL - 6
JO - Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
JF - Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
SN - 2329-4124
IS - 1
M1 - 011007
ER -