Cryogenic IR/Optical/UV Fast Spectrophotometers for the Study of Time-Variable Astronomical Sources

Published

November 1, 2000

Author(s)

Aaron J. Miller, B. Cabrera, R. W. Romani, John M. Martinis, Sae Woo Nam, David M. Weld, J. P. Castle

Abstract

Our detectors are superconducting Transition-Edge Sensors that have been designed for photon counting in the energy (wavelength) range of 0.5 eV (2.5 micrometers) to 10 eV (124 nm). Our design consists of a 6 x 6 array of 20 micrometers by 20 micrometers pixels, of which four were operated simultaneously at count rates exceeding 30 K-counts/pixel. Each photon is time-tagged to 0.4 microsecond(s) using a GPS signal processor, and the energy is determined to approximately 0.15 eV FWHM. These results are the best achieved for an energy dispersive spectrometer in the optical range. We discuss the detector design and operation, optical coupling, and high-rate data acquisition system. In addition, we discuss the next step towards detectors with improved light collection and higher energy resolution. We also present recent results from latest application of our fast spectrophotometers to the study of highly time-variable sources using the 2.7 m telescope at the McDonald Observatory.

Proceedings Title

Proc., SPIE

Volume

4131

Conference Dates

August 1-4, 2000

Conference Location

San Diego, CA, USA

Conference Title

Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing VIII

Pub Type

Conferences

Citation

Miller, A. , Cabrera, B. , Romani, R. , Martinis, J. , Nam, S. , Weld, D. and Castle, J. (2000), Cryogenic IR/Optical/UV Fast Spectrophotometers for the Study of Time-Variable Astronomical Sources, Proc., SPIE, San Diego, CA, USA (Accessed October 14, 2025)