Performance characterization of UV science cameras developed for the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP)

P. Champey; K. Kobayashi; A. Winebarger; J. Cirtain; D. Hyde; B. Robertson; D. Beabout; B. Beabout; M. Stewart

doi:10.1117/12.2057321

25 July 2014 Performance characterization of UV science cameras developed for the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP)

P. Champey, K. Kobayashi, A. Winebarger, J. Cirtain, D. Hyde, B. Robertson, D. Beabout, B. Beabout, M. Stewart

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 914439 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057321
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed a science camera suitable for sub-orbital missions for observations in the UV, EUV and soft X-ray. Six cameras will be built and tested for flight with the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP), a joint National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and MSFC sounding rocket mission. The goal of the CLASP mission is to observe the scattering polarization in Lyman-α and to detect the Hanle effect in the line core. Due to the nature of Lyman-α polarizationin the chromosphere, strict measurement sensitivity requirements are imposed on the CLASP polarimeter and spectrograph systems; science requirements for polarization measurements of Q/I and U/I are 0.1% in the line core. CLASP is a dual-beam spectro-polarimeter, which uses a continuously rotating waveplate as a polarization modulator, while the waveplate motor driver outputs trigger pulses to synchronize the exposures. The CCDs are operated in frame-transfer mode; the trigger pulse initiates the frame transfer, effectively ending the ongoing exposure and starting the next. The strict requirement of 0.1% polarization accuracy is met by using frame-transfer cameras to maximize the duty cycle in order to minimize photon noise. The CLASP cameras were designed to operate with ≤ 10 e^-/pixel/second dark current, ≤ 25 e^- read noise, a gain of 2.0 +- 0.5 and ≤ 1.0% residual non-linearity. We present the results of the performance characterization study performed on the CLASP prototype camera; dark current, read noise, camera gain and residual non-linearity.

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P. Champey, K. Kobayashi, A. Winebarger, J. Cirtain, D. Hyde, B. Robertson, D. Beabout, B. Beabout, and M. Stewart "Performance characterization of UV science cameras developed for the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP)", Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 914439 (25 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2057321

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