Upgrade of Vacuum UV Detector Calibration Facility

真空紫外检测器校准设施升级

• 批准号: ST/S002375/1
• 负责人: Jonathan Lapington
• 金额: $ 11.47万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FS002375%2F1
• 关键词: Upgrade; Vacuum; UV; Detector; Calibration

The Space Research Centre (SRC) within the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester has a long heritage in space science which has seen a Leicester-built instrument operating in earth orbit and beyond for every year since 1967. The SRC has played significant roles in many space missions with space agencies including NASA, ESA, UKSA, ISRO (India) and JAXA (Japan), for astronomical, planetary and Earth observation science missions. This continuous development and production of space instruments requires specialist custom facilities to support both research and development in early mission phases, and the characterisation tasks required for flight instruments. One such facility, originally assembled in later 1980s for the ROSAT mission, is the Vacuum UV Detector Calibration Facility (VUV-DCF), required for the multi-wavelength test and calibration of instruments from 200 nm down to 10 nm where UV is strongly absorbed by molecular oxygen and a vacuum environment is required. The development fulfils a strategic need of the UK academic research groups and commercial manufacturers who have a strong heritage in the development of state-of-the-art detector systems at UV wavelengths below 200 nm for applications such as astronomy, defence, space weather, earth remote sensing, etc.. These have included: lSAS Solar B: Extreme UV Imaging Spectrograph Hubble Space Telescope: Wide field camera 3 Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) Solar Dynamics Observatory TESIS MKA-FKl-PN5 ARKA Telescope.Specifically, this facility upgrade would provide important support for the following instruments currently under development: World Space Observatory-UV: WUVS instrument - spectrographs (Teledyne-e2v). World Space Observatory-UV: Imaging and Slitless Spectroscopy Instrument (ISSIS) (Photek). World Space Observatory-UV: Field Camera Unit (FCU) (Universidad Complutense de Madrid). Growing involvement with Chinese groups developing e.g. space weather satellite constellations (Photek)However there is currently no up-to-date UK-based vacuum UV measurement facility for absolute calibration of such instruments which is both readily available, and provides an absolute calibration standard. Such as facility is a prerequisite for UK research groups and industry to be able to measure and verify instrument performance and more broadly, demonstrate their technological capabilities.The VUV-DCF facility at Leicester was commissioned in the 90's and provided that capability. However, the system has fallen into disuse due to limited funds to replace essential components of the hardware that have limited lifetime e.g. vacuum pumps, control electronics and software, calibration standard detectors, valves, seals, light sources, etc. To address this need, we propose a combined programme of (i) refurbishment, to replace ageing hardware, plus (ii) upgrade, to improve the capabilities of the facility bringing it up to date with respect to today's requirements, by adding the new UV sources and calibration standards, extending wavelength coverage above 200 nm to accommodate broad range instruments, and updating facility control and automation software to use the latest operating system.A nationally available facility (available to all academic groups and industry within the UK) is a prerequisite to sustain UK leadership roles on international space missions in UV astronomy and will provide the capability to continue ground-breaking innovation, research and development of UV photocathodes, detectors and systems.

莱斯特大学物理与天文学系的空间研究中心 (SRC) 在空间科学领域拥有悠久的历史，自 1967 年以来，每年都有一台莱斯特制造的仪器在地球轨道及更远的地方运行。SRC 发挥了重要作用在 NASA、ESA、UKSA、ISRO（印度）和 JAXA（日本）等航天机构的许多太空任务中发挥着重要作用，包括天文、行星和地球观测科学任务。空间仪器的持续开发和生产需要专业的定制设施来支持早期任务阶段的研究和开发以及飞行仪器所需的表征任务。真空紫外检测器校准设备 (VUV-DCF) 最初是在 200 年代末为 ROSAT 任务组装的一种此类设施，用于对 200 nm 至 10 nm 的仪器进行多波长测试和校准，其中 UV 被强烈吸收需要通过分子氧和真空环境。该开发满足了英国学术研究团体和商业制造商的战略需求，他们在开发200 nm以下紫外线波长的最先进探测器系统方面拥有深厚的传统，适用于天文学、国防、空间天气、地球遥感等。其中包括： lSAS Solar B：极紫外成像光谱仪 哈勃太空望远镜：广角相机 3 太阳陆地关系观测站 (STEREO) 太阳动力学观测站 TESIS MKA-FKl-PN5 ARKA 望远镜。具体来说，此次设施升级将为目前正在开发的以下仪器提供重要支持：世界空间观测站-UV：WUVS 仪器-摄谱仪（Teledyne-e2v）。世界空间天文台-UV：成像和无缝光谱仪器（ISSIS）（Photek）。世界空间观测站-UV：野外相机单元 (FCU)（马德里康普顿斯大学）。越来越多地参与中国团体的发展，例如空间气象卫星星座（Photek）然而，目前英国还没有最新的真空紫外线测量设施用于此类仪器的绝对校准，该设备既容易获得，又提供绝对校准标准。这样的设施是英国研究小组和工业界能够测量和验证仪器性能以及更广泛地展示其技术能力的先决条件。莱斯特的 VUV-DCF 设施于 90 年代投入使用并提供了这种能力。然而，由于更换寿命有限的硬件基本组件的资金有限，该系统已被废弃。真空泵、控制电子设备和软件、校准标准检测器、阀门、密封件、光源等。为了满足这一需求，我们提出了一个组合计划：(i) 翻新，更换老化硬件，加上 (ii) 升级，改进通过添加新的紫外线源和校准标准，将波长覆盖范围扩展到 200 nm 以上以适应各种仪器，以及更新设施控制和自动化软件以使用最新的操作，该设施的功能使其能够满足当今的要求系统.全国可用该设施（可供英国所有学术团体和行业使用）是维持英国在紫外天文学国际空间任务中发挥领导作用的先决条件，并将提供继续突破性创新、研究和开发紫外光电阴极、探测器和系统的能力。