Detection of Light

Location & Time

The lecture courses take place in the Oort building #431 on Thursdays from 11:15 - 13:00 hr (practical exercises are in the computer room #421). The teaching period is from September 13 through December 21, 2007.

Lecturer

Dr. Bernhard Brandl, office: #535 (Oort building), phone (071) 527-5830, email .

Teaching assistant is Jeanette Bast, office: #516a, email .

Course content

Detectors are the crucial link between the astronomical target and the observer. As astronomers are aiming at fainter and fainter objects the quality and calibration of the detector systems have become increasingly important. The main goal of this course is to provide an overview of the various techniques to detect electromagnetic radiation, from the UV to the sub-millimeter. Course topics are intrinsic and extrinsic photo-conductors, photodiodes and other junction-based detectors, detector arrays, bolometers, coherent receivers, and submillimeter- and millimeterwave heterodyne receivers. The course will not only provide the physical background of the various detector technologies but also cover practical aspects, which are of general interest to the observer, such as cosmetic quality, linearity and dynamical range, spectral response and bandwidth, and quantum efficiency and noise. For details see schedule below.

Literature

The course will be heavily based on the book Detection of Light - from the Ultraviolet to the Submillimeter, by George Rieke, 2nd Edition, 2003, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-01710-6. It is recommended that students get their own copy of the book.

Further reading: Electronic Imaging in Astronomy: Detectors and Instrumentation by Ian S. McLean; A Guide to the Use and Calibration of Detector Array Equipment by Gordon R. Hopkinson, Teresa M. Goodman & Stuart R. Prince; Observational Astrophysics (chapter 7) by P. Lena, Francoise Lebrun & Francois Mignard; selected papers from Millimeter and Submillimeter Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy III, Proceedings of SPIE Volume: 6275; selected papers from High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy II, Proceedings of SPIE Volume: 6276.

Grading

Grades will be based on both the exam (2/3) and homeworks (1/3), including practical execises. Exams will be oral, by appointment, at the end of the course (calendar weeks 50/51).

Credits: 6 EC points. The course language is English.

Requirements

• Basic knowledge of solid state physics (Level of `Introduction to Solid State Physics' by Charles Kittel).
• Course level is 400/500.
• A computer account at the Sterrewacht or IDL access elsewhere. (If you do not have an account yet, please talk to our computer group, Huygens Lab #509). Computers are located in the Huygens Lab #421 and the Oort Building #442.

Preliminary schedule