Photodetector array camera and spectrometer (PACS) for the Herschel Space Observatory

Albrecht Poglitsch; Christoffel Waelkens; Norbert Geis

doi:10.1117/12.461232

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5 March 2003 The Photodetector Array Camera & Spectrometer (PACS) for the Herschel Space Observatory

Albrecht Poglitsch, Christoffel Waelkens, Norbert Geis

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Proceedings Volume 4850, IR Space Telescopes and Instruments; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461232
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) is one of the three science instruments for ESA's far infrared and submillimetre observatory, Herschel. It employs two Ge:Ga photoconductor arrays (stressed and unstressed) with 16 x 25 pixels, each, and two filled Si bolometer arrays with 16 x 32 and 32 x 64 pixels, respectively, to perform imaging line spectroscopy and imaging photometry in the 60-210 μm wavelength band. In photometry mode, it will simultaneously image two bands, 60-85 or 85-130 μm and 130-210 μm, over a field of view of ~1.75' x 3.5', with full beam sampling in each band. In spectroscopy mode, it will image a field of ~ 50", resolved into 5 x 5 pixels, with an instantaneous spectral coverage of ~1500 km/s and a spectral resolution of ~ 175km/s. In both modes background-noise limited performance is expected, with sensitivities (5σ in 1h) of ~ 3 mJy or 3-10x10^-18W/m², respectively.

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Albrecht Poglitsch, Christoffel Waelkens, and Norbert Geis "The Photodetector Array Camera & Spectrometer (PACS) for the Herschel Space Observatory", Proc. SPIE 4850, IR Space Telescopes and Instruments, (5 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461232

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