Detectors for Astronomy

ESO Garching, 12 - 16 October 2009

Workshop Poster: Full Resolution (9.8MB) / Low Resolution (1004KB)

Late breaking news:

DfA2009 Report published in the ESO Messenger No. 138, Dec09

DfA2009 Photo Gallery released: 249 photographs recall memories of all parts of the Workshop.

The group photo (1MB / 451KB) of the workshop participants is available.

After 4 1/2 busy days, the workshop ended at 13:00 hrs on Friday, 16 October. Some 60 oral presentations and nearly 40 posters from 183 registered participants gave a deep and lively overview of the field. Presentations, posters, and the 1/2 day introductory course by James Beletic and Markus Loose can now be downloaded from the program page.

Two quarters of the 2009 Noble Prize in Physics go to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for their invention of the CCD.

Scientific Rationale

Astronomical observations are critically dependent on focal-plane array technology, and detectors continue to play a key role in ever extending the scope of astronomical observations. Higher sensitivity, reduced noise, larger formats, better cosmetic quality, higher quantum efficiency, smaller point-spread functions, lower dark current, higher bandwidth, etc. constantly set new milestones on the road map towards the goal of artifact-free photon shot noise limited images of reality. One of the fastest growing applications is signal sensing, especially wavefront sensing for adaptive optics and fringe tracking for interferometry, which has become vital enabling technologies for both interferometry and extremely large telescopes. Topics of active research are large-format CMOS and CDD array mosaics, orthogonal transfer CCD's, electron-multiplication CCD's, electron-avalanche photodiode arrays, quantum-well infrared photon detectors, ASIC's, blocked impurity band arrays, novel readout technologies, to name a few. In a field with so rapid and complex developments, it is essential that designers, manufacturers and users gather regularly in order to exchange information about requirements, technical possibilities, and achievements on a world-wide scale.

The 2009 Workshop Detectors for Astronomy aims at providing an up-to-date platform for such exchanges and continues a series of similar meetings in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1999 (all at ESO-Garching), 2002 (Waimea), and 2005 (Taormina). The 2009 meeting will specifically address the following topics:

• Detector technologies and design
• Detector manufacturing
• Detector evaluation and calibration
• Control electronics
• ASIC's
• Control software
• Detector systems
• Mosaic focal-plane arrays
• Cryo-vacuum technologies
• Instruments with very demanding and/or novel requirements on detectors
• Scientific applications and results that depend on high-performance detectors
• Test methodology and quality control
• Calibration of performance

For more information contact: dfa2009@eso.org