Hyper Suprime-Cam: camera design

Abstract

Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) is the next generation wide-field imager for the prime focus of Subaru Telescope, which is scheduled to receive its first light in 2011. Combined with a newly built wide-field corrector, HSC covers 1.5 degree diameter field of view with 116 fully-depleted CCDs. In this presentation, we summarize the details of the camera design: the wide-field corrector, the prime focus unit, the CCD dewar and the peripheral devices. The wide-field corrector consists of 5 lenses with lateral shift type doublet ADC element. The novel design guarantees the excellent image quality (D₈₀ <0".3) over the field of view. On the focal plane, 116 CCDs are tiled on the cold plate which is made of Silicon Carbide (SiC) and cooled down to -100 degrees by two pulse tube coolers. The system is supported by the prime focus unit which provides a precise motion of the system to align the wide-field corrector and the CCD dewar to the optical axis of the telescope.