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Technology

RSAA Detector Scientists and Engineers work with optical and infrared
detectors for instrumentation on RSAA telescopes as well as instrumentation
for the largest telescopes to which Australian astronomers have access.

Use the links at the left to find out more information about the instruments
& detectors currently in use or being built at RSAA for our telescopes at
Siding Spring. Amongst these are the 2.3m CCD Imager and the re-fitted
Double Beam Spectrograph(DBS) CCD cameras.

In addition we are now in the advanced stages of work on an instrument
to replace the DBS, the new double beam Wide Field Spectrograph WiFeS
and is currently under construction at R.S.A.A.

This instrument is to deploy 2, Fairchild Imaging 4k x 4k CCDs in custom
built cryo-cooled dewars. One of these devices will be installed in the WiFeS
Red Arm, the camera being constructed first. A second, Blue optimised device for
the Blue Arm, will be built later this year, when the Red Arm is fully commisioned.

The Engineering test of the FI Eng And Science CCDs is under way and formal
characterisation of the Red Arm device is expected to be complete in about 2 months.
The Blue Arm CCD will then undergo similar work before being installed in the Blue
Arm camera, towards the end of this year(2007).

In addition we have now also received the full complement of 32 E2V Science
and 4 Engineering CCDs for the Science and Engineering aspects of the
SkyMapper Focal Plane Mosaic.

We are now in the 2nd of 4 cool-down phases for engineering tests of the
SkyMapper Vacuum Jacket. The 4 Engineering CCDs are being used to carry
out characterisation tests on the Focal Plane and this will proceed further
until integration of the 32 Science CCDs, later this year.

Finally, we have now also taken delivery of our STARGRASP 16-channel Test
Controller, a cut-down version of the Pan-STARRS (GPC) Controller, built by the
University of Hawaii.

We plan to deploy 2 of these systems for the SkyMapper Focal plane and we are
currently in the testing and integration phases of software and hardware, to
enable us to achieve this.

The Detector Lab is currently working on detector systems for:

• GSAOI (Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager) for Gemini South
• SkyMapper, RSAA's newest focal plane imager & 1.3m telescope
  utilising 32, E2V 2k x 4k focal plane CCDs.
  This instrument will utilse 2, Pan-STARRS CCD controllers for rapid
  detector read-out, the whole array being read, digitised and stored
  in 10-15 seconds.
• STARGRASP, integration of the 2 new 16-channel STARGRASP Array
  Controllers (SAC) into the SkyMapper Focal Plane.
• WiFeS, RSAA's new double beam spectrograph for the 2.3m telescope
  utilising 2, AR coated Fairchild Imaging 4k x 4k CCDs, one in
  each of the 2 arms of the spectrograph. This new instrument will
  implement a 'nod-and-shuffle' technique to permit high accuracy sky
  background subtraction of the individual spectra.

• AAOmega Page

  Data and pictures from the AAOmega CCD characterisation work.

You can contact the Detector Lab Engineers by sending us an email

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