PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | August 1, 2016
Proc. SPIE. 9915, High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy VII
KEYWORDS: Readout integrated circuits, Infrared detectors, Infrared detectors, Infrared sensors, Near infrared, Short wave infrared radiation, Short wave infrared radiation, Sensors, Quantum efficiency, Diodes, Infrared radiation, Infrared radiation, Temperature metrology
ESA has been funding the industry in Europe to bring the technologies together to manufacture high performance infrared detectors from near infrared (NIR) to very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) detectors. The UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC) has undertaken the tasks of test and characterizing the new detectors being manufactured by Leonardo, UK (Selex ES Ltd). Initial test results from these programs were presented at previous SPIE meetings in 2012 and 2014. The work since has much progressed to test and characterize the Large Format NIR, SWIR and LW and VLWIR detectors. This paper will present the custom built test facilities for evaluation of large format (currently 1280x1024, 15μm pixel format) near infrared detectors for astronomy applications, the characterization of 1Kx1K shortwave infrared detectors (cut off at 2.5μm on a 2Kx2K ROIC) for satellite based earth observation programs, long wavelength (8 to 11.5μm) and very long wavelength (10 to 14.5μm) 288 x 384 pixel infrared arrays for cosmos applications. Also being evaluated in at the UKATC is a SAPHIRA APD array (mark 5) for photon sensing and high speed AO applications. Custom test facilities have been setup at the UKATC and are being routinely used to test and characterize these detectors under conditions representative of the applications. The paper will discuss the requirements placed on testing in each of these programs along with the associated challenges to evaluate the performance of these detectors. The paper will also include some of the latest test results from the characterization programs, where appropriate.
