The photodetector array camera and spectrometer (PACS) for the Herschel Space Observatory

Albrecht Poglitsch; Christoffel Waelkens; Otto H. Bauer; Jordi Cepa; Helmut Feuchtgruber; Thomas Henning; Chris van Hoof; Franz Kerschbaum; Dietrich Lemke; Etienne Renotte; Louis Rodriguez; Paolo Saraceno; Bart Vandenbussche

doi:10.1117/12.670654

10 June 2006 The photodetector array camera and spectrometer (PACS) for the Herschel Space Observatory

Albrecht Poglitsch, Christoffel Waelkens, Otto H. Bauer, Jordi Cepa, Helmut Feuchtgruber, Thomas Henning, Chris van Hoof, Franz Kerschbaum, Dietrich Lemke, Etienne Renotte, Louis Rodriguez, Paolo Saraceno, Bart Vandenbussche

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6265, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter; 62650B (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.670654
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2006, Orlando, Florida , United States

Abstract

The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) is one of the three science instruments for ESA's far infrared and submillimeter observatory Herschel. It employs two Ge:Ga photoconductor arrays (stressed and unstressed) with 16 × 25 pixels, each, and two filled silicon bolometer arrays with 16 × 32 and 32 × 64 pixels, respectively, to perform imaging line spectroscopy and imaging photometry in the 60-210μm wavelength band. In photometry mode, it will simultaneously image two bands, 60-85μm or 85-130μm and 130-210μm, over a field of view of ~ 1.75' × 3.5', with full beam sampling in each band. In spectroscopy mode, it will image a field of ~50"×50", resolved into 5×5 pixels, with an instantaneous spectral coverage of ~1500 km/s and a spectral resolution of ~ 175 km/s. In both modes the performance is expected to be not far from background-noise limited, with sensitivities (5σ in 1h) of ~ 4 mJy or 3 - 20 ×10^-18W/m², respectively. We summarize the design of the instrument and its subunits, describe the observing modes in combination with the telescope pointing modes, report results from instrument level performance tests of the Qualification Model, and present our current prediction of the in-orbit performance of the instrument based on tests done at subunit level.

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Albrecht Poglitsch, Christoffel Waelkens, Otto H. Bauer, Jordi Cepa, Helmut Feuchtgruber, Thomas Henning, Chris van Hoof, Franz Kerschbaum, Dietrich Lemke, Etienne Renotte, Louis Rodriguez, Paolo Saraceno, and Bart Vandenbussche "The photodetector array camera and spectrometer (PACS) for the Herschel Space Observatory", Proc. SPIE 6265, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter, 62650B (10 June 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.670654

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