Wide Field Camera 3: Trends in the UVIS Detector
Abstract
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is a fourth-generation imaging instrument that was installed during Servicing Missing 4 in May 2009 and has performed well on-orbit since then. The UVIS channel, named for its ultraviolet and visible light detecting capabilities, is comprised of two e2v CCDs and is one of two channels available on WFC3. We present the results of some of the monitoring programs used to regularly assess the performance and calibration of the UVIS detector. We discuss the long-term growth in the number of hot pixels and the effectiveness of the anneal procedures in controlling that growth as well as provide a summary of the long-term evolution in dark current. We also summarize the UVIS Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) monitoring accomplished using both external and internal observations and provide recommendations for CTE mitigation. We describe a program to check for detector hysteresis (quantum efficiency offset) in the detector and detail our method of successfully neutralizing any offset. Finally, we outline the routine photometric monitoring performed and provide an evaluation of the throughput stability of the UVIS channel. These and other trending programs will continue throughout and beyond HST's current proposal cycle as a means of evaluating the overall health and stability of WFC3/UVIS.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- June 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AAS...22231611B