| Nicolas Billot, Patrick Agnese, Jean-Louis Augueres, Alain Beguin, Andre Bouere, Olivier Boulade, Christophe Cara, Christelle Cloue, Eric Doumayrou, Lionel Duband, Benoit Horeau, Isabelle Le Mer, Jean Le Pennec, Jerome Martignac, Koryo Okumura, Vincent Reveret, Louis Rodriguez, Marc Sauvage, Francois Simoens and Laurent Vigroux |
The development program of the flight model imaging camera for the
PACS instrument on-board the Herschel spacecraft is nearing
completion. This camera has two channels covering the 60 to 210
microns wavelength range. The focal plane of the short wavelength
channel is made of a mosaic of 2x4 3-sides buttable bolometer arrays
(16x16 pixels each) for a total of 2048 pixels, while the long
wavelength channel has a mosaic of 2 of the same bolometer arrays for
a total of 512 pixels. The 10 arrays have been fabricated,
individually tested and integrated in the photometer. They represent
the first filled arrays of fully collectively built bolometers with a
cold multiplexed readout, allowing for a properly sampled coverage of
the full instrument field of view. The camera has been fully
characterized and the ground calibration campaign will take place
after its delivery to the PACS consortium in mid 2006. The bolometers,
working at a temperature of 300 mK, have a NEP close to the BLIP limit
and an optical bandwidth of 4 to 5 Hz that will permit the mapping of
large sky areas. This paper briefly presents the concept and
technology of the detectors as well as the cryocooler and the warm
electronics. Then we focus on the performances of the integrated
focal planes (responsivity, NEP, low frequency noise, bandwidth). |
