Readout electronics and fast photometry with the Canarias InfraRed Camera Experiment (CIRCE)

Lasso Cabrera, Nestor M.; Hanna, Kevin T.; Eikenberry, Stephen S.; Edwards, Michelle L.; Charcos-Llorens, Miguel V.; Marin-Franch, Antonio; Cenarro, Javier
Bibliographical reference

Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II. Edited by McLean, Ian S.; Casali, Mark M. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 7014, pp. 70142N-70142N-8 (2008).

Advertised on:
8
2008
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We present the design for a high-speed readout imaging mode for the Canarias InfraRed Camera Experiment (CIRCE), a visitor-class near-IR imager, spectrograph, and polarimeter for the 10.4 meter Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). This mode, along with the polarimetric and spectroscopic capabilities of the instrument will provide a powerful and unique instrument for the study of fast variability objects. Modification in the firmware of the readout control electronics of the HAWAII-2 2048×2048 detector will allow us to select the effective detector size and hence reduce the readout time. We present a description of the final design along with a discussion of potential future improvements.