19 November 2020 Properties and characteristics of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope H4RG-10 detectors
Gregory Mosby, Bernard Rauscher, Chris Bennett, Edward S. Cheng, Stephanie A. Cheung, Analia N. Cillis, David A. Content, David A. Cottingham, Roger D. Foltz, John D. Gygax, Robert J. Hill, Jeffrey W. Kruk, Jon S. Mah, Lane A. Meier, Chris A. Merchant, Laddawan R. Miko, Eric C. Piquette, Augustyn Waczynski, Yiting Wen
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) formerly known as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope will answer fundamental questions about the evolution of dark energy over time and expand the catalog of known exoplanets into new regions of parameter space. Using a Hubble-sized mirror and 18 newly developed HgCdTe 4K  ×  4K photodiode arrays (H4RG-10), the Roman Space Telescope will measure the positions and shapes of hundreds of millions of galaxies, the light curves of thousands of supernovae, and the microlensing signals of over a thousand exoplanets toward the bulge of the Galaxy. These measurements require unprecedented sensitivity and characterization of the Wide Field Instrument, particularly its detectors. The Roman project undertook an extensive detector development program to create focal plane arrays that meet these science requirements. These prototype detectors have been characterized and their performance demonstrated in a relevant space-like environment (thermal vacuum, vibration, acoustic, and radiation testing), advancing the H4RG-10’s technology readiness level (TRL) to TRL-6. We present the performance characteristics of these TRL-6 demonstration devices.

© 2020 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) 2329-4124/2020/$28.00 © 2020 SPIE
Gregory Mosby, Bernard Rauscher, Chris Bennett, Edward S. Cheng, Stephanie A. Cheung, Analia N. Cillis, David A. Content, David A. Cottingham, Roger D. Foltz, John D. Gygax, Robert J. Hill, Jeffrey W. Kruk, Jon S. Mah, Lane A. Meier, Chris A. Merchant, Laddawan R. Miko, Eric C. Piquette, Augustyn Waczynski, and Yiting Wen "Properties and characteristics of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope H4RG-10 detectors," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 6(4), 046001 (19 November 2020). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.6.4.046001
Received: 30 April 2020; Accepted: 19 October 2020; Published: 19 November 2020
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Cited by 24 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Sensors

Space telescopes

Mercury cadmium telluride

Signal detection

Quantum efficiency

Diffusion

Calibration

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