2017/05/31 by Javier Tiffenberg, Miguel Sofo-Haro, Alex Drlica-Wagner +5 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.ins-det #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.IM #hep-ex
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.119.131802
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 131802 (2017)
arxiv created 2017/05/31 · arxiv updated 2017/10/04
We have developed a non-destructive readout system that uses a floating-gate amplifier on a thick, fully depleted charge coupled device (CCD) to achieve ultra-low readout noise of 0.068 e- rms/pix. This is the first time that discrete sub-electron readout noise has been achieved reproducibly over millions of pixels on a stable, large-area detector. This allows the precise counting of the number of electrons in each pixel, ranging from pixels with 0 electrons to more than 1500 electrons. The resulting CCD detector is thus an ultra-sensitive calorimeter. It is also capable of counting single photons in the optical and near-infrared regime. Implementing this innovative non-destructive readout system has a negligible impact on CCD design and fabrication, and there are nearly immediate scientific applications. As a particle detector, this CCD will have unprecedented sensitivity to low-mass dark matter particles and coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, while astronomical applications include future direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanets.