Characterization results of EMCCDs for extreme low-light imaging

Daigle, Olivier; Djazovski, Oleg; Laurin, Denis; Doyon, René; Artigau, Étienne

doi:10.1117/12.926385

Cited by 26 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…16 Below this, there appeared to be a plateau where lower temperature did not significantly reduce dark current. Both image and storage areas had this plateau.…”

Section: Dark Currentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Noise and dark performance for FIREBall-2 EMCCD delta-doped CCD detector

et al. 2015

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The Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) is an experiment designed to observe low density emission from HI, CIV, and OVI in the circum-galactic medium around low-redshift galaxies. To detect this diffuse emission, we use a high-efficiency photon-counting EMCCD as part of FIREBall-2's detector. The flight camera system includes a custom printed circuit board, a mechanical cryo-cooler, zeolite and charcoal getters, and a Nüvü controller, for fast read-out speeds and waveform shaping. Here we report on overall detector system performance, including pressure and temperature stability. We describe dark current and CIC measurements at several temperatures and substrate voltages, with the flight set-up.

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“…16 Below this, there appeared to be a plateau where lower temperature did not significantly reduce dark current. Both image and storage areas had this plateau.…”

Section: Dark Currentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent work exploring dark current vs temperature indicate a lower limit, 15,16 however most applications operate at -85 • C and the behavior below this temperature has not been extensively investigated. Additionally, cold operation of the CCD leads to a significant reduction in charge transfer efficiency (CTE).…”

Section: Emccds and Noise Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise and dark performance for FIREBall-2 EMCCD delta-doped CCD detector

et al. 2015

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“…Dark current can be reduced by operating in inverted mode and by cooling the device further. Recent work exploring dark current at lower temperatures show evidence for a possible lower limit 15,16 but most applications operate at -85…”

Section: Electron Multiplying Ccdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The faint intergalactic-medium red-shifted emission balloon: future UV observations with EMCCDs

et al. 2016

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We present the latest developments in our joint NASA/CNES suborbital project. This project is a balloon-borne UV multi-object spectrograph, which has been designed to detect faint emission from the circumgalactic medium (CGM) around low redshift galaxies. One major change from FIREBall-1 has been the use of a delta-doped Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD). EMCCDs can be used in photon-counting (PC) mode to achieve extremely low readout noise (¡ 1e − ). Our testing initially focused on reducing clock-induced-charge (CIC) through wave shaping and well depth optimisation with the CCD Controller for Counting Photons (CCCP) from Nüvü. This optimisation also includes methods for reducing dark current, via cooling and substrate voltage adjustment. We present result of laboratory noise measurements including dark current. Furthermore, we will briefly present some initial results from our first set of on-sky observations using a delta-doped EMCCD on the 200 inch telescope at Palomar using the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager (PCWI).

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“…7 Depending on the applied voltage, EMCCDs can amplify electron signals by several thousand times, effectively eliminating read noise by allowing the device to operate as a photon counter. 8,9 EMCCDs are well suited for the FIREBall-2 experiment, which will map faint targets. …”

Section: Fireball-2 Detectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Detector performance for the FIREBall-2 UV experiment

et al. 2015

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We present an overview of the detector for the upcoming Faint Intergalactic Red-shifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) experiment, with a particular focus on the development of device-integrated optical coatings and detector quantum efficiency (QE). FIREBall-2 is designed to measure emission from the strong resonance lines of HI, OVI, and CIV, all red-shifted to 195-225 nm window; its detector is a delta-doped electron multiplying chargecoupled device (EM-CCD). Delta-doped arrays, invented at JPL, achieve 100% internal QE from the UV through the visible. External losses due to reflection (~70% in some UV regions) can be mitigated with antireflection coatings (ARCs). Using atomic layer deposition (ALD), thin-film optical filters are incorporated with existing detector technologies. ALD offers nanometer-scale control over film thickness and interface quality, allowing for precision growth of multilayer films. Several AR coatings, including single and multi-layer designs, were tested for FIREBall-2. QE measurements match modeled transmittance behavior remarkably well, showing improved performance in the target wavelength range. Also under development are ALD coatings to enhance QE for a variety of spectral regions throughout the UV (90-320 nm) and visible (320-1000 nm) range both for space-based imaging and spectroscopy as well as for ground-based telescopes.Keywords: Ultraviolet, EMCCD, AR coating, delta doping, FIREBall, atomic layer deposition FIREBALL-2The Faint Intergalactic Red Shifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) is a balloon-borne UV spectrograph funded jointly by NASA and CNES. Briefly, FIREBall-2 is designed to observe emission from the circumgalactic medium (CGM), the diffuse gas around galaxies. The primary targets include line emission from HI (Lyman-α, 121.6 nm) at a redshift of z=0.7; OVI (103.3 nm) at z=1.0; and CIV (154.9 nm) at z=0.3. The instrument is optimized for narrowband observations spanning the stratospheric window (200-210 nm) centered at 205 nm. FIREBall-2 is a follow on to FIREBall-1, which was launched on two separate occasions in 2007 and 2009. [1][2][3][4] FIREBall-1 was a technical and engineering success, but elucidated the need for lower detection limits and FIREBall-2, resulting in changes to the spectrograph design and the detector. The focus of this manuscript is on the FIREBall-2 detector, specifically development of Electron Multiplying CCDs (EMCCDs) with unprecedented quantum efficiency (QE) within the FIREBall-2 observation band. Details of the spectrograph design and detector noise performance are provided elsewhere, including within these Proceedings. FIREBALL-2 DETECTORThe FIREBall-2 detector development is a collaborative effort shared between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the California Institute of Technology, and Columbia University. The detector is based on e2v's CCD201-20, an electron multiplying charge-coupled device (EMCCD). EMCCDs are conventional CCDs in which one of the register phases is replaced with a high voltage (40-50 V) gain register that multip...

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Characterization results of EMCCDs for extreme low-light imaging

Cited by 26 publications

References 6 publications

Noise and dark performance for FIREBall-2 EMCCD delta-doped CCD detector

Noise and dark performance for FIREBall-2 EMCCD delta-doped CCD detector

The faint intergalactic-medium red-shifted emission balloon: future UV observations with EMCCDs

Detector performance for the FIREBall-2 UV experiment

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