Leon Harding (Caltech)


The Effectiveness of Electron Multiplication CCD Technology for Astronomical Applications



The CHIMERA (Caltech HIgh-speed Multi color camERA) photometer was commissioned in August 2012
at prime focus of the Palomar Hale 200-inch. It was designed as a low noise, high-speed
multi-color instrument, and thus employs two of the newest generation EM-CCD detectors (CCD201;
1024^2 Px). These devices are capable of simultaneously delivering low noise (<<1 e- under EM
amplification) and rapid frame rates (9 fps full frame over ~2.7^2 arcmin, >4200 fps windowed).
CHIMERA has been funded for an upgrade with Caltech and JPL, where the motivation of this is
largely in the pursuit of occultations of stars by sub-km sized Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) in
our outer Solar System, in addition to the search for near Earth asteroids (NEAs). I will
discuss the development and deployment of CHIMERA, focusing on the characteristics of the
EM-CCD, why this technology was selected and the role it plays in achieving such low detector
noise, thus providing the necessary observing conditions for many astronomical applications.


http://www.tauceti.caltech.edu/lkh/
http://www.tauceti.caltech.edu/chimera/