First results from a detector characterization lab for testing performance under space environmental conditions

A new setup for detector characterization consisting of a cryostat, tunable collimated light source, and versatile data acquisition system is currently being commissioned. The setup enables testing optical and infrared sensors in the 400 to 14000 nm wavelength range and the devices under test can be cooled to cryogenic temperatures of down to 50 K under vacuum condition. 32 spectral band passes with bandwidths of λ{ΔΛ ≥ 50 are available for spectral characterization, covering the full range from 400 to 14000 nm. The setup can be used to characterize responsivity, detectivity, noise equivalent temperature difference, dark current, linearity, dynamic range, well depth, and pixel response non-uniformity. We report on first results for the characterization of imaging sensors using Teledyne’s CCD47-20 as the device under test for which camera gain, linearity error, full well capacity, read noise, dark noise, and quantum efficiency have been determined. Furthermore, the performance of the light source and cryostat system will be discussed.