Program objectives and specifications for the Ultra-Fast Astronomy observatory

TL;DR

The paper details the objectives and specifications of the Ultra-Fast Astronomy observatory, designed to study optical sky variability at millisecond to nanosecond scales and search for fast radio burst counterparts.

Contribution

It introduces the design and development of a novel ultra-fast optical observatory with specialized detectors and readout systems for high-time-resolution astrophysical observations.

Findings

Development of two readout systems measuring microsecond and nanosecond timescales.

Characterization of silicon photomultipliers and photomultiplier tubes for detector comparison.

Implementation of a two-detector array on a 0.7-meter telescope for fast optical transient detection.

Abstract

We present program objectives and specifications for the first generation Ultra-Fast Astronomy (UFA) observatory which will explore a new astrophysical phase space by characterizing the variability of the optical (320 nm - 650 nm) sky in the millisecond to nanosecond timescales. One of the first objectives of the UFA observatory will be to search for optical counterparts to fast radio bursts (FRB) that can be used to identify the origins of FRB and probe the epoch of reionization and baryonic matter in the interstellar and intergalactic mediums. The UFA camera will consist of two single-photon resolution fast-response detector 16x16 arrays operated in coincidence mounted on the 0.7 meter Nazarbayev University Transient Telescope at the Assy-Turgen Astrophysical Observatory (NUTTelA-TAO) located near Almaty, Kazakhstan. We are currently developing two readout systems that can measure down to the microsecond and nanosecond timescales and characterizing two silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) and one photomultiplier tube (PMT) to compare the detectors for the UFA observatory and astrophysical observations in general.