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Commissioning SCUBA-2 at JCMT and Optimising the Performance of the Superconducting TES Arrays

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Abstract

SCUBA-2 is a state of the art 10,000 pixel submillimeter camera providing wide-field simultaneous imaging at 450 and 850 microns. The instrument is in the final stages of commissioning at the JCMT and is the largest low temperature detector array in operation. Twin focal planes each consist of four 32 by 40 sub-arrays of superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers, with inline SQUID time-division multiplexed readout. In this paper we discuss the challenges and steps taken to optimise the performance of the SCUBA-2 arrays and maximise the mapping speed of the instrument. We present results of characterising the eight 1280 bolometer arrays and show the performance of the detectors and the instrument.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Astronomy Centre, Hilo, HI, USA

    D. Bintley, J. Dempsey, P. Friberg & H. Thomas

  2. UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh, UK

    M. MacIntosh & W. Holland

  3. Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    P. Ade & R. Sudiwala

  4. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO, USA

    K. Irwin, G. Hilton & M. Niemack

  5. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    M. Amiri, E. Chapin & M. Halpern

Authors
  1. D. Bintley
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  2. M. MacIntosh
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  3. W. Holland
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  4. J. Dempsey
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  5. P. Friberg
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  6. H. Thomas
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  7. P. Ade
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  8. R. Sudiwala
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  9. K. Irwin
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  10. G. Hilton
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  11. M. Niemack
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  12. M. Amiri
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  13. E. Chapin
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  14. M. Halpern
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. Bintley.

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Bintley, D., MacIntosh, M., Holland, W. et al. Commissioning SCUBA-2 at JCMT and Optimising the Performance of the Superconducting TES Arrays. J Low Temp Phys 167, 152–160 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0601-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0601-z

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