Sensor characterization for the ULTRASAT space telescope

The Ultraviolet Transient Astronomical Satellite (ULTRASAT) is a scientific space mission carrying an astronomical telescope. The mission is led by the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel and the Israel Space Agency (ISA), while the camera in the focal plane is designed and built by Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) in Germany. Two key science goals of the mission are the detection of counterparts to gravitational wave sources and supernovae.¹ The launch to geostationary orbit is planned for 2024. The telescope with a field-of-view of ≈ 200 deg², is optimized to work in the near-ultraviolet (NUV) band between 220 and 280 nm. The focal plane array is composed of four 22.4-megapixel, backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensors with a total active area of 90 × 90 mm²² Prior to sensor production, smaller test sensors have been tested to support critical design decisions for the final flight sensor. These test sensors share the design of epitaxial layer and anti-reflective coatings with the flight sensors. Here, we present a characterization of these test sensors. Dark current and read noise are characterized as a function of the device temperature. A temperature-independent noise level is attributed to on-die infrared emission and the read-out electronics’ self-heating. We utilize a high-precision photometric calibration setup³ to obtain the test sensors’ quantum efficiency relative to PTB/NIST-calibrated transfer standards (220-1100 nm), the quantum yield for λ < 300 nm, the non-linearity of the system, and the conversion gain. The uncertainties are discussed in the context of the newest results on the setup’s performance parameters. From the three ARC options Tstd, T1 and T2, the last assists the out-of-band rejection and peaks in the mid of the ULTRASAT operational waveband. We recommend ARC option T2 for the final ULTRASAT UV sensor.