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Detector Information

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T-ReCS contains the same detector as Michelle . Some basic characteristics of the detectors are shown in the table below:

Manufacturer Raytheon SBRC
Design Impurity-band Conductor (IBC)
Multiplexer CRC-774
Format 320x240 pixels
Pixel Size 50 micron
# Outputs 16
Well Depth Switchable:
Low Background ~ 3e6 e- (214 e- / ADU)
High Background ~ 1e7 e- (718 e- / ADU)
Active Layer Si:As
Wavelength range 5-28 micron

On the sky, the T-ReCS pixel size is 0.08976+/-0.00021 arc-seconds (3 sigma) in the N and Qa filters (KBrC window). Measurements of the binary star Alpha Cen show that in the Qb filter with the KRS-5 window the pixel size differs by about 5%: 0.08633+/-0.00013 arcsec/pixel. The FITS header WCS assumes a value of 0.089 arcsec/pixel that is not adjusted for the different filters.

The instrument alignment angle is checked at intervals using a suitable double star. It was 358.1 degrees from the middle of 2003 until April 28 2004 when it was changed to 357.8 degrees to adjust for a small mis-alignment. The default orientation has the short axis of the array oriented north-south, such that T-ReCS images have north up and east at left to a precision of order 0.3 degrees at worst. The precision depends on how recently the alignment has been checked and whether the cassegrain rotator has been re-initialized since the last adjustment.

See this page about T-ReCS and Michelle data characteristics for more detector-related information about T-ReCS data, including pattern noise and artefacts caused by very bright objects.


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