CCD cameras at IJAF

Installation of the mosaic CCDs

Among the CCD cameras delivered by IJAF in operation at observatories around the world are:

Detector	Instrument	Telescope	Documentation
W14-2	HiRAC	NOT	test report
The HiRAC science camera is a 2k² Loral ultra-thinned PPtF coated CCD. The camera was commissioned in December 1996 with the detector named W14-2, or CCD#4 after the new NOT nomenclature. Some problems with maintaining the sensitivity are reported.

Detector	Instrument	Telescope	Documentation
CCD 44-82 "Ringo"	DFOSC	Danish 1.5m	test report
The camera for the DFOSC is the MAT/EEV CCD 44-82 "Ringo". This camera was commissioned in September 2000. Here is the test report on the previous detector, a Loral 2k by 2k W7-(0,0), commissioned in April 1997. The La Silla ODT closely monitors the camera performance, as can be seen here. April 2001: Here is a report from Martin Robert Knudsen, stating that the amplifier B low gain now is approx. 3.5e-/ADU, and a method for linearity correction is presented.

Detectors	Instrument	Telescope	Documentation
W15-(1,0), W17-(1,1), W19-(1,0), W20-(0,0)	MOSCA	NOT	test report
The mosaic camera for direct imaging at the NOT was commissioned in October 2002.

• NOTCam : 1-2.5um near-IR camera based on the Rockwell 1024² CMT array, delivered to NOT in May 2001.
  Here are illustrated progress reports on the work done.
• StanCam (previously called BroCam I) with CCD#1: 1k² SITe thinned CCD at the NOT
  In January 2003, the camera was upgraded with a Cryotiger cooling system.
  Some performace checks after the upgrade: Linearity of amplifier A, high gain, 550nm flat field.
• A new camera for FIES at NOT, using a E2V CCD42-40 2k by 2k 13.5um CCD and cooled by a CryoTiger. Here is the pre-commissioning test report.
  Originally, a MAT/EEV 42-80 characterized here should have been used.
  Unfortunately, this device was damaged, and another was used. Here is a preliminary report on the temporary replacement detector.
• HiRAC guide camera: 64x128 Loral frame-transfer front side illuminated CCD at the NOT
  Here is a preliminary description of the camera and software.
• IJAF has provided the controller for a 2k by 4k camera for FEROS. Here are some pre-commissioning test data of the EEV CCD 44-82.
• Here is a test report on the newly upgraded camera using a KAF-4201 CCD in HTML format and as a compressed postscript file, for the Brorfelde Schmidt Telescope
• SITe 2048 by 800 pixel camera for the Ondrejov Observatory. Here is the detector test report .
• SITe 2048 by 800 pixel camera for the Mt. Maidanak Observatory. Here is the test report , and a picture of the system.
• Two 2K by 2K Loral cameras for Prof. Piskunov.
  Test reports on detector W17-(1,1) and W21-(0,0)
• 2K by 4K SITe ST-002 camera for the HFOSC. Here is the characterization report on the detector.
• 2k² Loral camera for IAA, Granada. Download the pre-commisioning test report .
• 2k by 2k Marconi CCD camera, cooled by a Cryotiger, for the STELLA project at Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam
  Download the pre-commisioning test report .
• A brief test report on an Audine-type camera equipped with a KAF3200ME CCD.
• Pre-commissioning test report for the camera for TFOSC, using a Fairchild 2k by 2k 15um CCD.

Cameras planned or in progress

• 2 by 1 mosaic of Marconi 2K by 4K CCDs, to be used with the FRED focal reducer at the NOT
  Initially, a variant of the CCDs with a fringe suppression feature was evaluated. The result can be read here.
• Development of a camera based on the Audine project into an auto-guider.

Here you can see the detector laboratory test facilities

The user interface to the cameras is a program called BIAS, running in a unix/X11 environment.
Here is the user's manual for the BIAS system, revised August 2000, in gzipped postscript format and gzipped RTF format .

Here is the text from the BIAS help page .

Here is a description of the controller, camera and software, "A versatile PC-based CCD camera system", written by Jens Klougart.
Compressed postscript format , PDF format
This was presented at the "IS&T/SPIE's Symposium on Electronic Imaging: Science & Technology", February 5 - 10, 1995, and published in SPIEE Conf. Proc. Vol 2416, p. 65.

Our Loral CCDs are prepared by the Steward Observatory CCD Laboratory

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Last updated May 5, 2004