Large CCD Array Research Articles

Comparing simulations and test data of a radiation damaged charge-coupled device for the Euclid mission

The VIS instrument on board the Euclid mission is a weak-lensing experiment that depends on very precise shape measurements of distant galaxies obtained by a large CCD array. Due to the harsh radiative environment outside the Earth's atmosphere, it is anticipated that the CCDs over the mission lifetime will be degraded to an extent that these measurements will only be possible through the correction of radiation damage effects. We have therefore created a Monte Carlo model that simulates the physical processes taking place when transferring signal through a radiation-damaged CCD. The software is based on Shockley-Read-Hall theory, and is made to mimic the physical properties in the CCD as closely as possible. The code runs on a single electrode level and takes three dimensional trap position, potential structure of the pixel, and multi-level clocking into account. A key element of the model is that it also takes device specific simulations of electron density as a direct input, thereby avoiding to make any analytical assumptions about the size and density of the charge cloud. This paper illustrates how test data and simulated data can be compared in order to further our understanding of the positions and properties of the individual radiation-induced traps.

Stereoscopic PIV measurements of a turbulent boundary layer with a large spatial dynamic range

The flow in a streamwise/wall-normal plane of a turbulent boundary layer at moderate Reynolds number (Reθ = 2,200) is characterized using two stereo PIV systems just overlapping in the streamwise direction. The aim is to generate SPIV data for near-wall turbulence with enough spatial dynamic range to resolve most of the coherent structures present in the flow and to facilitate future comparisons with direct numerical simulations. This is made possibly through the use of four cameras with large CCD arrays (4,008 px × 2,672 px) and through a rigorous experimental procedure designed to minimize the impact of measurement noise on the resolution of the small scales. For the first time, both a large field of view [Sx; Sy] = [2.6δ; 0.75δ] and a high spatial resolution (with an interrogation window size of 13.6+) have been achieved. The quality of the data is assessed through an analysis of some of the statistical results such as the mean velocity profile, the rms and the PDF of the fluctuations, and the power spectra.

The L5 mission for space weather forecasting

We have studied a number of interplanetary space mission scenarios for space weather research and operational forecasting experiments and concluded that a spacecraft should be deployed at the L5 point of the Sun–Earth system to enable remote sensing of the Sun and interplanetary space and in situ measurements of solar wind plasma and high energy solar particle events. The L5 point is an appropriate position for making side-view observations of geo-effective coronal mass ejections and interplanetary plasma clouds. Here, we describe briefly the mission plan and the ongoing BBM development of important subsystems such as the wide field coronal imager (WCI) and the mission processor. The WCI will have a large CCD array with 16-bit sampling, to achieve a dynamic range of several thousand in order to detect very small deviations due to plasma clouds under zodiacal light contaminations a hundred times brighter than the clouds. The L5 mission we propose will surely contribute to the construction of an international space weather observation network.

Precise reduction of solar spectra obtained with large CCD arrays

A precise procedure suitable for the reduction of solar spectra taken with large CCD arrays and the retrieval of correct spectral characteristics is presented. Various effects, which one should take into account, are considered and several improvements of the standard reduction are introduced. A special flat-field procedure is suggested for the reduction of spectra registered in different flat-field conditions than those when the flat-field matrix was taken. The original flat-field matrix is split into several components to eliminate the influence of the drift of the spectrograph and temporal changes of the flat-field conditions on the reduced spectrum. The importance of every flat-field matrix component is tested and discussed and the noise propagation through data reduction is analyzed. It is documented that the errors of the basic spectral line characteristics, continuum intensity, line centre intensity and full width at the half maxima of the line have variations between 0.5% and 15% and the errors of the line centre Doppler velocity and bisectors fluctuate by up to 200 m s-1, if derived from imprecise reductions, compared to precise ones.

Dark current induced in large CCD arrays by proton-induced elastic reactions and single to multiple-event spallation reactions

Computer simulations of the non-ionizing energy loss deposited in sensitive volumes as a result of proton-induced spallation reactions agree with analytic models for large sensitive volumes exposed to high fluence. They predict unique features for small volumes and low-fluence exposures which are observed in exposures of large arrays of CCD pixels. Calculations of the number of spallation reactions per pixel correlate with the recently reported relative frequency of switching dark-current states.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>