Toyoki Watabe

The Infrared Astronomical Mission AKARI

AKARI, the first Japanese satellite dedicated to infrared astronomy, was launched on 2006 February 21, and started observations in May of the same year. AKARI has a 68.5 cm cooled telescope, together with two focal-plane instruments, which survey the sky in six wavelength bands from mid- to far-infrared. The instruments also have a capability for imaging and spectroscopy in the wavelength range 2-180 mu m in the pointed observation mode, occasionally inserted into a continuous survey operation. The in-orbit cryogen lifetime is expected to be one and a half years. The All-Sky Survey will cover more than 90% of the whole sky with a higher spatial resolution and a wider wavelength coverage than that of the previous IRAS all-sky survey. Point-source catalogues of the All-Sky Survey will be released to the astronomical community. Pointed observations will be used for deep surveys of selected sky areas and systematic observations of important astronomical targets. These will become an additional future heritage of this mission.

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) for AKARI

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal-plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 mu m, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The actual scan width is more than eight arcminutes, and the pixel pitch matches the diffraction limit of the telescope. Derived point-spread functions (PSFs) from observations of asteroids are similar to those given by the optical model. Significant excesses, however, are clearly seen around tails of the PSFs, whose contributions are about 30% of the total power. All FIS functions are operating well in orbit, and the performance meets the laboratory characterizations, except for the two longer wavelength bands, which are not performing as well as characterized. Furthermore, the FIS has a spectroscopic capability using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). Because the FTS takes advantage of the optics and detectors of the photometer, it can simultaneously make a spectral map. This paper summarizes the in-flight technical and operational performance of the FIS.

Cryogenic capacitive transimpedance amplifier for astronomical infrared detectors

We have developed a new capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) that can be operated at 2 K, and have good performance as readout circuits of astronomical far-infrared array detectors. The circuit design of the present CTIA consists of silicon p-MOSFETs and other passive elements. The process is a standard Bi-CMOS process with 0.5 /spl mu/m design rule. The open-loop gain of the CTIA is more than 300, resulting in good integration performance. The output voltage swing of the CTIA was 270 mV. The power consumption for each CTIA is less than 10 /spl mu/W. The noise at the output showed a 1/f noise spectrum of 4 /spl mu/V//spl radic/Hz at 1 Hz. The performance of this CTIA nearly fulfills the requirements for the far-infrared array detectors onboard ASTRO-F, Japanese infrared astronomical satellite to be launched in 2005.

FIS: far-infrared surveyor on board ASTRO-F (IRIS)

The ASTRO-F project is currently in its final stage of proto-model, which is constructed same as flight-model. Since instrument goals of the Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) are unprecedented achievement of high sensitivity and high spatial resolution in far-infrared wavelength, the proto- model stage is important to prove the performance as the flight instrument. We mainly present here the latest optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the proto- model of the FIS.

Cryogenic readout electronics with silicon P-MOSFETS for the infrared astronomical satellite, ASTRO-F

We have successfully developed a low-power, low-noise silicon p-channel MOSFET working at 1.8 K. This MOSFET was produced by a standard 0.5μm BiCMOS process. From the typical current-voltage characteristics of this p-channel MOSFET at 1.8K, we obtained that the drain resistance rd is ∼2Mω, the transconductance gm is ∼35μS, and the input referred noise voltage is as low as ∼2μV/√Hz at 1Hz under low-drain current condition (∼1μA). No “kink”-like behavior was observed within the nominal operation range (−1.5V<Vds <0V). These results are acceptable for the application to cryogenic electronics. The purpose of the present work is to develop the capacitive transimpedance amplifiers (CTIA) for the Far-infrared Surveyor (FIS) on board the Japanese infrared astronomical satellite, ASTRO-F. The cryogenic amplifier that is essential for CTIAs was successfully made by employing this p-channel MOSFET. The open-loop gain was ∼1000, and the power consumption was less than 10μW at 4.2K. We have finally demonstrated that the CTIA consisting of this cryogenic amplifier worked well at 4.2 K.

The Far-Infrared Photometer on the Infrared Telescope in Space

We describe the design and calibration of the Far-Infrared Photometer (FIRP), one of four focal plane instruments on the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS). The FIRP will provide absolute photometry in four bands centered at 150, 250, 400, and 700 microns with spectral resolution wavelength/wavelength spread is approximately 3 and spatial resolution delta theta = 0.5 degrees. High sensitivity is achieved by using bolometric detectors operated at 300 mK in an AC bridge circuit. The closed-cycle He-3 refrigerator can be recycled in orbit. A 2 K shutter provides a zero reference for each field of view. More than 10% of the sky will be surveyed during the 3 week mission lifetime with a sensitivity of less than 10(exp -13) W per sq cm per sr per 0.5 degree pixel.

Preflight performance measurements of a monolithic Ge:Ga array detector for the Far-Infrared Surveyor onboard ASTRO-F

We present pre-flight performance of a monolithic Ge:Ga array detector for Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) onboard the ASTRO-F satellite. The primary purpose of the ASTRO-F mission is to perform an all-sky survey in four photometric bands form 50-200 um. For shorter half of this spectral range, 50-110 um, we have developed the monolithic Ge:Ga array which is directly connected to a cryogenic readout electronics (CRE) with the indium-bump technology. In order to investigate the point-source detectability in the survey observation, we carry out a simulation experiment. The experiment was done by taking a image of moving pinholes located on the focal plane of the FIS optics. A clear image without any distortion was obtained, but the size of point source image is slightly larger than expected. We estimate the detection limit in the survey observation by taking account of all detector properties including the imaging performance. The results show that the detector sensitivity is sufficiently high to meet the requirement of the ASTRO-F mission.

Monolithic Ge:Ga two-dimensional array detector for FIS instrument on ASTRO-F

ASTRO-F is a Japanese infrared satellite, which is scheduled for launch in early 2004. Far-infrared instrument that will be onboard ASTRO-F, Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS), will perform the four-color all sky survey in the 50-200 um wavelength range with the diffraction-limited spatial resolution for 67-cm diameter telescope. For short-wave photometric bands of 50-110 um, we have developed a monolithic Ge:Ga two-dimensional array detector with no light cavity. This top-illumination type array design is promising for making future large-format array. The monolithic Ge:Ga is directly attached onto cryogenic readout electronics, capacitive trans-impedance amplifier composed of silicon p-MOSFETs, designed specially for low-temperature use. Results of the detector measurements show that the device works properly and sensitive enough for astronomical applications. Complex behavior of the detector, such as non-linearity of the integration ramp, transient response, non-uniform responsivity in the array, and cross-talk response, which may cause systematic error in the photometry, have been found. But, these effects are ~10% of major part of the signal and correctable with accuracy of a few %.

Rocketborne instrument to search for infrared emission from baryonic dark matter in galactic halos

We describe the design and performance of the near IR telescope experiment (NITE), a rocket-borne instrument designed to search for IR emission from baryonic dark matter in the halos of nearby edge-on spiral galaxies. A 256 X 256 InSb array at the focus of a 16.5 cm liquid-helium- cooled telescope achieves near-background-limited sensitivity in a 3.5-5.5 micrometers waveband where the local foreground from zodiacal emission is at a minimum. This experiment represents the first scientific application of a low-background IR InSb array, a precursor to the InSb arrays intended for SIRTF, in a space-borne observation. We describe the flight performance of the instrument and preliminary scientific result from an observation of NGC 4565.

Development of the Far‐Infrared Interferometric Telescope Experiment

We have developed the Far‐Infrared Interferometric Telescope Experiment (FITE). It will be the first astronomical infrared interferometer working in space. FITE is a balloon‐borne telescope, and will operate in the stratosphere (at an altitude of 35 kilometers). FITE is a Michelson‐type stellar interferometer, and has a long baseline of 20 meters (at maximum). The purpose of the FITE project is to achieve a high spatial resolution of 1 arcsecond at a wavelength of 100 micrometers.For its first flight, FITE has an 8‐meter baseline, and the aim is to measure the interference fringes with a spatial resolution of 2.5 arcseconds. In order to achieve this aim, the two beams must be focused within 2.5 arcseconds accuracy in the imaging quality, within 10 arcseconds of accuracy in the beam alignment, and within 30 micrometers accuracy in the optical path length between the two beams. Also, the orientation of the telescope must be controlled within 2.5 arcseconds accuracy. To achieve such accuracy, the structural ...