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.

莱斯特大学物理学和天文学系内的空间研究中心（SRC）在空间科学方面有着悠久的历史，自1967年以来，每年都有一台莱斯特制造的仪器在地球轨道上运行。SRC在许多空间任务中发挥了重要作用，包括NASA，ESA，UKSA，ISRO（印度）和JAXA（日本）等空间机构，用于天文，行星和地球观测科学任务。空间仪器的这种持续开发和生产需要专门的定制设施来支持早期使命阶段的研究和开发以及飞行仪器所需的表征任务。真空紫外线探测器校准设施是最初于1980年代后期为ROSAT使命组装的一种此类设施，需要对200纳米至10纳米的仪器进行多波长测试和校准，因为在这些波长下，紫外线被分子氧强烈吸收，需要真空环境。这一发展满足了英国学术研究团体和商业制造商的战略需求，他们在开发用于天文学、国防、空间天气、地球遥感等应用的200 nm以下紫外波长的最先进探测器系统方面具有很强的传统。这些措施包括：lSAS太阳能B：哈勃空间望远镜：宽视场照相机3日地关系观测台太阳动力学观测台TESIS MKA-FK 1-PN 5 ARKA望远镜：具体而言，这一设施升级将为目前正在开发的下列仪器提供重要支持：世界空间观测台-紫外：WUVS仪器-光谱仪（Teledyne-e2 v）。世界空间观测站-紫外线：成像和无缝光谱仪（ISSIS）（Photek）。世界空间观测站-紫外线：野外照相机组（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，目前还没有最新的英国真空紫外测量设施，用于对这些仪器进行绝对校准，这既容易获得，又提供了绝对校准标准。这种设备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设备于90年代投入使用，并提供了这种能力。然而，由于资金有限，无法更换使用寿命有限的硬件的基本部件，例如真空泵、控制电子设备和软件、校准标准探测器、阀门、密封件、光源等，该系统已被废弃。为了满足这一需求，我们提出了一个综合方案，包括（i）翻新，更换老化的硬件，以及（ii）升级，通过增加新的紫外光源和校准标准，将波长覆盖范围扩展到200 nm以上以适应宽范围仪器，以及更新设施控制和自动化软件，以使用最新的操作系统。（提供给联合王国境内的所有学术团体和工业界）是维持联合王国在紫外天文学国际空间任务中的领导地位的先决条件，并将提供继续进行突破性创新的能力，研究和开发紫外光电阴极、探测器和系统。