Paper
23 July 2014 Near-infrared InGaAs detectors for background-limited imaging and photometry
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Abstract
Originally designed for night-vision equipment, InGaAs detectors are beginning to achieve background-limited performance in broadband imaging from the ground. The lower cost of these detectors can enable multi-band instruments, arrays of small telescopes, and large focal planes that would be uneconomical with high-performance HgCdTe detectors. We developed a camera to operate the FLIR AP1121 sensor using deep thermoelectric cooling and up-the-ramp sampling to minimize noise. We measured a dark current of 163 e- s-1 pix-1, a read noise of 87 e- up-the-ramp, and a well depth of 80k e-. Laboratory photometric testing achieved a stability of 230 ppm hr-1/2, which would be required for detecting exoplanet transits. InGaAs detectors are also applicable to other branches of near-infrared time-domain astronomy, ranging from brown dwarf weather to gravitational wave follow-up.
© (2014) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Peter W. Sullivan, Bryce Croll, and Robert A. Simcoe "Near-infrared InGaAs detectors for background-limited imaging and photometry", Proc. SPIE 9154, High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy VI, 91541F (23 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056425
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Cited by 6 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Sensors

Telescopes

Indium gallium arsenide

Photometry

Stars

Image sensors

Cameras

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