CanariCam is the facility multi-mode mid-IR camera developed by the University of Florida (UF) for the 10.4- meter Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). CanariCam contains a 320 × 240-pixel Raytheon array, which will Nyquist-sample the diffraction-limited point-spread-function at wavelengths longer than 8 microns, yielding a field of view of 26"×19". In Aug. 2007, the University of Florida instrument team held a successful Acceptance Testing (AT) of CanariCam. We describe key performance requirements, and compare these to the actual performance during formal AT. Among the results considered are detector noise characteristics, image quality, and throughput. We focus particularly on the unique dual-beam polarimetric modes. We have demonstrated that with a half-wave plate, it achieves or exceeds the design goals for imaging both polarization planes simultaneously.

Date Published: 9 July 2008
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 7014, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II, 70142E (9 July 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.789040

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7014:
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II
Ian S. McLean; Mark M. Casali, Editor(s)