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J. Oliver (Harvard), LSST Camera Team
The requirements for reading out the focal plane of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope are driven by the scientific goals of simultaneously achieving exceptionally high throughput and faint limiting magnitude (i.e., 10 square degrees imaged to 26.5 AB magnitude every 15 s). This results in a large pixel count (3Gpix) and very high segmentation (6300 readout channels) operating at modest pixel rates (250 kHz). About six gigabytes of data are generated per exposure.
Present plans call for installing front end electronics (ASIC-based analog processing) inside the cryostat adjacent to the sensors at a temperature of -100C. Digitizing and multiplexing electronics will be in a separate thermal zone within the main cryostat, and data will exit the cryostat over a small number of optical fiber links. Strict attention to contamination control will be required to prevent volatile materials from the electronic hardware from condensing on the sensor surfaces. An electronics test bed is being developed at Harvard University and the first modules will be tested in early 2006.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.