Scuba-2 CCD-Style Imaging for the JCMT

Abstract

SCUBA-2 will replace SCUBA (Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in 2006 and will be the first CCD-style camera for submillimetre astronomy. The instrument will simultaneously image at 850 and 450 microns using two focal plane arrays of 5120 pixels each. SCUBA-2 will map the submillimetre sky 1000 times faster than SCUBA to the same signal-to-noise ratio. This paper introduces the detector technology and the challenges faced in reading out a detector array cooled to ∼120 mK.

The Effect of Noise in Dust Emission Maps on the Derivation of Column Density, Temperature, and Emissivity Spectral Index

“…The next generation detectors on the JCMT (SCUBA-2) and on APEX (LABOCA), will not need to sky-chop, allowing more large-scale structure to be visible, improved calibration and fewer image artifacts, making more accurate determinations of dust properties in cores possible (Ellis 2005;Güsten et al 2006).…”

A novel, highly efficient cavity backshort design for far-infrared TES detectors

“…The most commonly utilised backshort designs for the farinfrared wavebands are simple flat surfaces [13,14] as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 (centre), based on the quarter-wavelength resonance approach.…”

Device modeling of superconductor transition edge sensors based on the two-fluid theory

“…T HE past two decades have witnessed the rapid development of the superconductor transition edge sensor technology [1], [2] and its successful application in a wide range of scientific and instrumental fields [3]- [7]. Most impressively, mid scale TES detector arrays with tens to hundreds of pixels have been fabricated and deployed in Astronomy telescopes [8], [9]. In the near future, it is expected that much larger scale TES detector arrays, potentially with thousands to tens of thousands of pixels, will become available [10].…”