On-board SVOM to be launched in 2024, the Microchannel X-Ray Telescope (MXT) is equipped with a 256 x 256 pixel pnCCD and two CAMEX ASIC operated at -65°C, and a full-custom front-end electronics box to control the focal plane and extract photon events. Proton irradiation tests were performed on a qualification model of the MXT focal plane and were followed by spectral calibration tests in the SOLEIL synchrotron. The paper will describe the setups of these two campaigns and the performance results, in particular the degradation of charge efficiency transfer and energy resolution by displacement damage dose.
The ARIEL InfraRed Spectrometer (AIRS) instrument will be implemented on board of the ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote‐sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large‐survey) space mission led by ESA, to study the atmosphere of exoplanets by providing low resolution spectrum of the observed targets over broad infrared wavelength range covering the [1,95-7,8] μm. The satellite will be launched by ARIANE 6 from Kourou in 2029 for a 4 years mission. AIRS is equipped with two integrated Focal Plane Assemblies (iFPA) each resulting of the assembly of two subsystem: the Focal Plane Array (FPA) and the Cold Front-End Electronic (CFEE). Each FPA is equipped with a detector H1RG from Teledyne whose cut-off wavelength had been tuned to fit the wavelength domain of interest. The CFEE is connected by a flex cable to the detector package and passively cooled between around 60K through the AIRS optical benches and the Optical Bench of the ARIEL payload. Two different structural models and four bread board models have been developed to validate and qualify the thermal and mechanical design and to validate the full electrical functional detection chain. The paper will describe all these models and the results obtained during the qualification campaign and the performance tests of the first iFPA model equipped with an eight micrometers cut-off detector. This paper describes also the dedicated cryostat and test benches developed, with associated safety, to check compliance with mission requirement at subsystem level.
AIRS is the infrared spectroscopic instrument of ARIEL: Atmospheric Remote‐sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large‐survey mission adopted in November 2020 as the Cosmic Vision M4 ESA mission and planned to be launched in 2029 by an Ariane 6 from Kourou toward a large amplitude orbit around L2 for a 4-year mission. Within the scientific payload, AIRS will perform transit spectroscopy of over 1000 exoplanets to complete a statistical survey, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a wide range of host stars. All these collected spectroscopic data will be a major asset to answer the key scientific questions addressed by this mission: what are exoplanets made of? How do planets and planetary systems form? How do planets and their atmospheres evolve over time? The AIRS instrument is based on two independent channels covering 1.95-3.90 µm (CH0) and 3.90-7.80 µm (CH1) wavelength ranges with prism-based dispersive elements producing spectra of low resolutions R>100 in CH0 and R>30 in CH1 on two independent detectors. The spectrometer is designed to provide a Nyquist-sampled spectrum in both spatial and spectral directions to limit the sensitivity of measurements to the jitter noise and intra pixels pattern during the long (10 hours) transit spectroscopy exposures. A full instrument overview will be presented covering the thermo-mechanical design of the instrument functioning in a 60 K environment, up to the detection and acquisition chain of both channels based on 2 HgCdTe detectors actively cooled to below 42 K. This overview will present updated information of phase C studies, in particular on the assembly and testing of prototypes that are highly representative of the future engineering model that will be used as an instrument-level qualification model.
SVOM (Space based Variable Object Monitor) is a Chinese-French mission dedicated to the study of the most luminous explosions in the Universe: Gamma-Ray Bursts. This observatory for time-domain astrophysics is due for launch on June 24th 2024. Among the four space borne instruments is the Micro-channel X-ray Telescope (MXT). The MXT is a focusing X-ray telescope, based on “lobster-eye” optics, whose main goal is to improve the localization of transient sources, as well as to measure their timing and spectral properties. The MXT camera is implementing a 256 × 256 pixels pnCCD detector, sensitive in the 0.2-10 keV energy range. The spectral performance of the MXT instrument was measured in 2021 during the calibration campaign at the MPE PANTER X-ray facility and the End-to-End testing during the vacuum and thermal tests of the full satellite in the SECM Shanghai integration facility. SVOM is in a low-Earth orbit crossing the South Atlantic Anomaly, and the MXT will thus be submitted to irradiation, in particular from protons, that will cause radiation damage. To anticipate the evolution of the MXT performances over its three years mission lifetime, a spare flight model of the MXT detector plane has been irradiated with 50 MeV protons at the Arronax cyclotron facility, and then installed and characterized at the X-ray Metrology beamline of the SOLEIL Synchrotron in June 2023.
This paper presents the results of calibration campaigns to infer the performances of the MXT instrument over the lifetime of the SVOM mission.
T. Pichon, V. Schwartz, A. Gougeon, M. Berthé, C. Cara, M. Cartier, J. Martignac, V. Moreau, P. Mulet, M. Lortholary, L. Provost, D. Renaud, O. Tellier, F. Visticot
The fourth medium class ESA mission Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey also known as ARIEL is dedicated to the study of exoplanets. The goal of this mission is to characterize the atmosphere of exoplanets to find out what they are made of, how they form and evolve. The satellite is composed of two instruments: AIRS, for ARIEL Infrared Spectrometer, and a Fine Guidance System (FGS) which is used both to monitor the satellite position and as a near infrared spectrometer and photometer. AIRS instrument is made of two channels; one covers the spectral range 1.95 μm – 3.9 μm (called CH0) and the other 3.9 μm – 7.8 μm (called CH1). Both detectors are H1RG IR detectors based on MCT (Mercury Cadmium Telluride) technology. During AIRS’ operations, the detectors will be operated in window mode. On CH1, the targeted window size is set to 64 columns over 130 lines. We will present the first results of characterization of early engineering model of CH1 detector performed on a dedicated test bench at the Astrophysics department of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). The detector control electronics is based on home developed electronics which is very similar to the one which will be used onboard of the AIRS instrument. The detector is operated in differential mode using the separate reference output available on the H1RG detectors. First the AIRS acquisition chain will be presented and then we will present he characterization results acquired with the detector operated in window mode.
AIRS is the infrared spectroscopic instrument of ARIEL: Atmospheric Remote‐sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large‐survey mission selected in March 2018 as the Cosmic Vision M4 ESA mission and planned to be launched in 2029 by an Ariane 6 from Kourou toward a large amplitude orbit around L2 for a 4 year mission. Within the scientific payload, AIRS will perform transit spectroscopy of over a 1000 of exoplanets to complete a statistical survey, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a wide range of host stars. All these collected spectroscopic data will be a major asset to answer the key scientific questions addressed by this mission: what are the exoplanets made of? How do planets and planetary system form? How do planets and their atmospheres evolve over time? The AIRS instrument is based on two independent channels covering the CH0 [1.95-3.90] µm and the CH1 [3.90-7.80] µm wavelength range with prism-based dispersive elements producing spectrum of low resolutions R<100 in CH0 and R<30 in CH1 on two independent detectors. The spectrometer is designed to provide spectrum Nyquist-sampled in both spatial and spectral directions to limit the sensitivity of measurements to the jitter noise and intra pixels pattern during the long (10 hours) transit spectroscopy exposures. A full instrument overview will be presented covering the thermal mechanical design of the instrument functioning in a 60 K cold environment, up to the detection and acquisition chain of both channels based on 2 HgCdTe detectors actively cooled down below 42 K. This overview will present updated information of phase B2 studies in particular with the early manufacturing of prototype for key elements like the optics, focal-plane assembly and read-out electronics as well as the results of testing of the IR detectors up to 8.0 μm cut-off.
D2R1 (Dimension 2 revision 1) is the most recent development of CdTe based X-ray detectors within a series of highly successful imaging spectrometers CALISTE. The detector consists of a CdTe crystal which is directly connected to a low-noise readout ASIC by a flip-chip bonding process. The reduced stray capacitance in combination with an adapted ASIC design results in a superior energy resolution of 584 eV FWHM at 60 keV.
The 16x16 pixel array with a 300um pixel pitch constitutes a 4.8x4.8 mm^2 detector surface on a 750um thick crystal. Such fine-pitched hard X-ray detectors show not only an improved spatial resolution but also an improved spectral resolution at soft and medium energies. A slightly diminishing spectral resolution is only observed for energies that are large enough to increase the split ratio significantly.
X-ray polarimetry based on incoherent scattering also benefits from the improved spectral and spatial resolution. Furthermore, the sensitivity for polarimetric measurements that uses only a single detector unit is greatly enhanced because of an increased efficiency for detecting Compton scattered events: within smaller pixel structures, the position of the incoherent scattering and the position of the scattered photon absorption are less likely within the same pixel and can be therefore detected individually.
After a description of the new ASIC concept we are presenting laboratory measurements that were realized with several different detector modules in order to verify their spectral and spatial properties.
The home made ASIC of D2R1 is based on a Charge Sensitive Amplifier (CSA) in combination with a Multi Correlated Double Sampling method: the continuous sampled outputs of the CSA are averaged on -chip before and after an event detection. The difference of these two values represent the signal height of the detected event.
The ASIC exhibit very good performance and the Equivalent Noise Charge is as low as 29 electors rms, making them perfectly suitable to read semiconductor detectors of any kind and any bias polarity.
In order to investigate the spectral and spatial properties the focus of the data analysis is put on the event split ratio and its dependence with energy. The determination of the virtual pixel size for single events, i.e. the region within a pixel that results in a single event detection, is key for a proper understanding of the evolution of the spectral and spatial resolution with energy. While split events decrease the spectral performance because of added noise contributions of multiple readout channels, they increase the spatial resolution by allowing a center-of-mass calculation with a sub-pixel resolution. The virtual pixel size for single, double, triple, and quadruple events are estimated with an analytical model which is verified by measurements at different energies (5.6 keV, 13.9 keV, 60 keV, 122 keV and 245 keV). Finally, the polarimetric performance of D2R1 is examined via detailed simulations.
The wide accessible energy range between 2-250 keV and the fast timing capabilities complete D2R1 to suite a variety of different applications. Excellent spatial, spectral, and timing capabilities in the medium and hard X-ray range are key parameters for future X-ray missions. All these properties are well combined within the D2R1 concept.
The ESA space mission Euclid is designed to map the geometry of the dark Universe and will be equipped with two instruments on-board. The VIS instrument [1] is composed of different subsystems including the Power and Mechanism Control Unit (PMCU). The PMCU is developed and manufactured in France under responsibility of the CEA (Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives) with the support of CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) . It controls VIS subsystems located in the cold PayLoad Module (PLM) which are the readout shutter, the calibration unit and the Focal Plane Array (FPA) thermistors. We will describe the integration of the PMCU, the philosophy of its tests and results obtained to qualify the unit up to the Flight Model in preparation to its delivery foreseen in Autumn 2018.
In the frame work of the ESA Euclid mission to be launched in 2020, the Euclid Consortium is developing an extremely large and stable focal plane for the VIS instrument. After an extensive phase of definition and study over 4 years made at CEA on the thermo-mechanical architecture of that Focal Plane, the first model (Structural and Thermal Model) has been assembled qualified and delivered to MSSL in June 2017.
The VIS Focal Plane Assembly integrates 36 CCDs (operated at 150K) connected to their front end electronics (operated at 280K). This Focal Plane will be the largest focal plane (~0.6 billion pixels) ever built for space application after the GAIA one. The CCDs are CCD273 type specially designed and provided by the Teledyne e2v company under ESA contract, front end electronics is studied and provided by MSSL.
The Structural and Thermal Model is fully representative of the Flight Model regarding the thermo-mechanical architecture. As the instrument development philosophy follows a Proto Flight approach this choice has been made very early in the development program in order to reduce the risk on the PFM program. So the AIT/AIV plan has been built in order to fully validate since the STM program the overall integration, verification and qualification sequences, taking into account the very stringent cleanliness requirement. The STM FPA integrates 36 CCDs representative of the flight model except for the detection function. Electrical configuration of the front end electronics provides electrical interface in order to power the CCDs and check integrity of all the electrical links to CCDs.
In this paper we first recall the architecture of the VIS-FPA and especially the solutions proposed to cope with the scientific needs of an extremely stable focal plane, both mechanically and thermally leading to a SiC structure. The modular architecture concept, considered as a key driver for such big and complex focal plane is detailed. Parallel to that, the integration workflow including verification steps is fully depicted including specific aspects linked to the use of SiC. Validation and qualification test program is described. A summary of geometrical measurements, thermal balance tests and vibrations tests including the main Ground Support Equipment description are reported.
Keyword list: Euclid, CCD, SiC, focal plane, architecture, integration
KEYWORDS: Sensors, X-rays, Satellites, Field programmable gate arrays, Calibration, Space operations, Electroluminescence, Optimal filtering, Spectroscopy, Digital signal processing
Astro-H1 is a JAXA/NASA X-ray satellite launched in 17th Feb. 2016. The hard X-ray imager (HXI)2 is a Si/CdTe stacked detector system which is placed in the focus of a hard x-ray telescope. HXI constitute one of the four different instruments onboard Astro-H.
We are presenting the current status of a stacked detector setup which consists of two mini-HXI double sided CdTe strip detectors (CdTe DSDs)|similar to those used in HXI|that are read out with the low-noise readout ASIC IDeF-X BD. We describe the configuration of the setup, its spectroscopic performance, and a long-term operation of the setup. The long-term test simulates the orbital operation of HXI using identical detector temperatures, bias voltages, and switch-on/switch-off cycles with the goal to study the detector stability and the evolution of its performance during operation.
One of the main challenges for current and near future space experiments is the increase of focal plane complexity in terms of amount of pixels. In the frame work of the ESA Euclid mission to be launched in 2020, the Euclid Consortium is developing an extremely large and stable focal plane for the VIS instrument. CEA has developed the thermomechanical architecture of that Focal Plane taking into account all the very stringent performance and mission related requirements. The VIS Focal Plane Assembly integrates 36 CCDs (operated at 150K) connected to their front end electronics (operated at 280K) as to obtain one of the largest focal plane (∼0.6 billion pixels) ever built for space application after the GAIA one. The CCDs are CCD273 type specially designed and provided by the e2v company under ESA contract, front end electronics is studied and provided by MSSL. In this paper we first recall the specific requirements that have driven the overall architecture of the VIS-FPA and especially the solutions proposed to cope with the scientific needs of an extremely stable focal plane, both mechanically and thermally. The mechanical structure based on SiC material used for the cold sub assembly supporting the CCDs is detailed. We describe also the modular architecture concept that we have selected taking into account AIT-AIV and programmatic constraints.
A. Goldwurm, P. Ferrando, D. Götz, P. Laurent, F. Lebrun, O. Limousin, S. Basa, W. Bertoli, Eric Delagnes, Y. Dolgorouky, O. Gevin, A. Gros, C. Gouiffes, F. Jeanneau, C. Lachaud, M. Llored, C. Olivetto, G. Prevot, D. Renaud, J. Rodriguez, C. Rossin, S. Schanne, S. Soldi, P. Varniere
The main objective of the Wide Field Monitor (WFM) on the LOFT mission is to provide unambiguous detection of the high-energy sources in a large field of view, in order to support science operations of the LOFT primary instrument, the LAD. The monitor will also provide by itself a large number of results on the timing and spectral behavior of hundreds of galactic compact objects, Active Galactic Nuclei and Gamma-Ray Bursts. The WFM is based on the coded aperture concept where a position sensitive detector records the shadow of a mask projected by the celestial sources. The proposed WFM detector plane, based on Double Sided micro-Strip Silicon Detectors (DSSD), will allow proper 2-dimensional recording of the projected shadows. Indeed the positioning of the photon interaction in the detector with equivalent fine resolution in both directions insures the best imaging capability compatible with the allocated budgets for this telescope on LOFT. We will describe here the overall configuration of this 2D-WFM and the design and characteristics of the DSSD detector plane including its imaging and spectral performances. We will also present a number of simulated results discussing the advantages that this configuration offers to LOFT. A DSSD-based WFM will in particular reduce significantly the source confusion experienced by the WFM in crowded regions of the sky like the Galactic Center and will in general increase the observatory science capability of the mission.
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