CEA Bolometer Arrays: the First Year in Space

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development, ground testing, and successful space operation of CEA bolometer arrays for far-infrared space observations, highlighting their design, performance, and resilience to cosmic rays.

Contribution

It presents the first successful deployment and operation of large-scale CEA bolometer arrays in space, demonstrating their suitability for space-based far-infrared astronomy.

Findings

Arrays operated successfully at 300 mK in space

Detectors showed low noise and high stability

Cosmic rays impact was manageable

Abstract

The CEA/LETI and CEA/SAp started the development of far-infrared filled bolometer arrays for space applications over a decade ago. The unique design of these detectors makes possible the assembling of large focal planes comprising thousands of bolometers running at 300 mK with very low power dissipation. Ten arrays of 16x16 pixels were thoroughly tested on the ground, and integrated in the Herschel/PACS instrument before launch in May 2009. These detectors have been successfully commissioned and are now operating in their nominal environment at the second Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun system. In this paper we briefly explain the functioning of CEA bolometer arrays, and we present the properties of the detectors focusing on their noise characteristics, the effect of cosmic rays on the signal, the repeatability of the measurements, and the stability of the system.