S-Cam is a cryogenic camera for ground based astronomy designed around a 6 by 6 array of Ta-Al Superconducting Tunnel Junctions. The camera has been conceived as a technology demonstrator, aiming to provide the potential of this new generation of single photon counting detectors at a ground-based telescope in La Palma, an improved version of the camera has been developed and tested. In this paper we provide an overview of the latest camera performance, a description of the up-dated S-Cam 2 system and a summary of the main test results. An example of the novel astronomical data obtained during the test campaign conducted in December 1999 are also shortly described.

Date Published: 16 August 2000
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 4008, Optical and IR Telescope Instrumentation and Detectors, (16 August 2000); doi: 10.1117/12.395523

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4008:
Optical and IR Telescope Instrumentation and Detectors
Masanori Iye; Alan F. M. Moorwood, Editor(s)