LYRA is a solar radiometer part of the PROBA 2 micro satellite payload. LYRA will monitor the solar irradiance in four soft X-Ray - VUV passbands. They have been chosen for their relevance to Solar Physics, Aeronomy and SpaceWeather: 1/ Lyman Alpha channel, 2/ Herzberg continuum range, 3/ Aluminium filter channel (including He II at 30.4 nm) and 4/ Zirconium filter channel. The radiometric calibration is traceable to synchrotron source standards. The stability will be monitored by on-board calibration sources (LEDs), which allow us to distinguish between potential degradations of the detectors and filters. Additionally, a redundancy strategy maximizes the accuracy and the stability of the measurements. LYRA will benefit from wide bandgap detectors based on diamond: it will be the first space assessment of revolutionary UV detectors. Diamond sensors make the instruments radiation-hard and solar-blind (insensitive to visible light) and therefore, make dispensable visible light blocking filters. To correlate the data of this new detector technology, well known technology, such as Si detectors are also embarked. The SWAP EUV imaging telescope will operate next to LYRA on PROBA-2. Together, they will provide a high performance solar monitor for operational space weather nowcasting and research.
LYRA demonstrates technologies important for future missions such as the ESA Solar Orbiter.
LYRA is a solar radiometer, part of the PROBA-2 micro-satellite payload (Fig. 1). The PROBA-2 [1] mission has been launched on 02 November 2009 with a Rockot launcher to a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 725 km. Its nominal operation duration is two years with possible extension of 2 years. PROBA-2 is a small satellite developed under an ESA General Support Technology Program (GSTP) contract to perform an in-flight demonstration of new space technologies and support a scientific mission for a set of selected instruments [2]. PROBA-2 host 17 technological demonstrators and 4 scientific instruments. The mission is tracked by the ESA Redu Mission Operation Center.
One of the four scientific instruments is LYRA that monitors the solar irradiance at a high cadence (> 20 Hz) in four soft X-Ray to VUV large passbands: the “Lyman-Alpha” channel, the “Herzberg” continuum range, the “Aluminium” and “Zirconium” filter channels. The radiometric calibration is traceable to synchrotron source standards [3]. LYRA benefits from wide bandgap detectors based on diamond. It is the first space assessment of these revolutionary UV detectors for astrophysics. Diamond sensors make the instruments radiation-hard and solar-blind (insensitive to the strong solar visible light) and, therefore, visible light blocking filters become superfluous. To correlate the data of this new detector technology, silicon detectors with well known characteristics are also embarked. Due to the strict allocated mass and power budget (5 kg, 5W), and poor priority to the payload needs on such platform, an optimization and a robustness of the instrument was necessary. The first switch-on occured on 16 November 2009. Since then the instrument performances have been monitored and analyzed during the commissioning period. This paper presents the first-light and preliminary performance analysis.
The EUV high resolution imager (HRI) channel of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on-board Solar Orbiter will observe the solar atmospheric layers at 17.4 nm wavelength with a 200 km resolution.
The HRI channel is based on a compact two mirrors off-axis design. The spectral selection is obtained by a multilayer coating deposited on the mirrors and by redundant Aluminum filters rejecting the visible and infrared light. The detector is a 2k x 2k array back-thinned silicon CMOS-APS with 10 μm pixel pitch, sensitive in the EUV wavelength range.
Due to the instrument compactness and the constraints on the optical design, the channel performance is very sensitive to the manufacturing, alignments and settling errors. A trade-off between two optical layouts was therefore performed to select the final optical design and to improve the mirror mounts. The effect of diffraction by the filter mesh support and by the mirror diffusion has been included in the overall error budget. Manufacturing of mirror and mounts has started and will result in thermo-mechanical validation on the EUI instrument structural and thermal model (STM).
Because of the limited channel entrance aperture and consequently the low input flux, the channel performance also relies on the detector EUV sensitivity, readout noise and dynamic range. Based on the characterization of a CMOS-APS back-side detector prototype, showing promising results, the EUI detector has been specified and is under development. These detectors will undergo a qualification program before being tested and integrated on the EUI instrument.
The space environment is considered hazardous to spacecraft, resulting in materials degradation. Understanding the degradation of space-based instruments is crucial in order to achieve the scientific objectives, which are derived from these instruments. This paper discusses the on-orbit performance degradation of recent spacebased solar instruments. We will focus on the instruments of three space-based missions such as the Project for On-Board Autonomy 2 (PROBA2) spacecraft, the Solar Monitoring Observatory (SOLAR) payload onboard the Columbus science Laboratory of the International Space Station (ISS) and the PICARD spacecraft. Finally, this paper intends to understand the degradation processes of these space-based solar instruments.
The Solar Orbiter mission will explore the connection between the Sun and its heliosphere, taking advantage of an orbit
approaching the Sun at 0.28 AU. As part of this mission, the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) will provide full-sun and
high-resolution image sequences of the solar atmosphere at selected spectral emission lines in the extreme and vacuum
ultraviolet.
To achieve the required scientific performances under the challenging constraints of the Solar Orbiter mission it was
required to further develop existing technologies. As part of this development, and of its maturation of technology
readiness, a set of breadboard and prototypes of critical subsystems have thus been realized to improve the overall
instrument design.
The EUI instrument architecture, its major components and sub-systems are described with their driving constraints and
the expected performances based on the breadboard and prototype results. The instrument verification and qualification
plan will also be discussed. We present the thermal and mechanical model validation, the instrument test campaign with
the structural-thermal model (STM), followed by the other instrument models in advance of the flight instrument
manufacturing and AIT campaign.
This paper describes a back-side illuminated 1 Megapixel CMOS image sensor
made in 0.18um CMOS process for EUV detection. The sensor applied a so-call
"dual-transfer" scheme to achieve low noise, high dynamic range. The EUV
sensitivity is achieved with backside illumination use SOI-based solution. The
epitaxial silicon layer is thinned down to less than 3um. The sensor is tested and
characterized at 5nm to 30nm illumination. At 17.4nm targeted wavelength, the
detector external QE (exclude quantum yield factor) reaches almost 60%. The
detector reaches read noise of 1.2 ph- (@17.4nm), i.e. close to performance of EUV
photon counting.
Membranes a few hundred nanometers thick are used in EUV optics to make, for example, beams splitters or passband
filters. Despite their necessity in numerous applications these components are, because of their thinness, extremely
fragile and their implementation in space instruments is always difficult. The authors are developing thin film filters for
the Full Sun Imager, one of the EUV telescopes on board the Solar Orbiter mission with objectives of high optical
efficiency and mechanical strength. These filters are specifically designed to isolate one or the other of the two
passbands (17.4 and 30.4 nm) reflected by the telescope's dual band mirror coating. In this paper we present the optical
properties of the prototype components.
Photodetectors designed for the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) range with the Aluminum Gallium Nitride
(AlGaN) active layer are reported. AlGaN layers were grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) on
Si(111) wafers. Different device structures were designed and fabricated, including single pixel
detectors and 2D detector arrays. Sensitivity in different configurations was demonstrated, including
front- and backside illumination. The latter was possible after integration of the detector chips with
dedicated Si-based readouts using high-density In bump arrays and flip-chip bonding. In order to avoid
radiation absorption in silicon, the substrate was removed, leaving a submicron-thin membrane of
AlGaN active layer suspended on top of an array of In bumps. Optoelectrical characterization was
performed using different UV light sources, also in the synchrotron beamlines providing radiation
down to the EUV range. The measured cut-off wavelength of the active layer used was 280 nm, with a
rejection ratio of the visible radiation above 3 orders of magnitude. Spectral responsivity and quantum
efficiency values
We report on the fabrication of Schottky-diode-based Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) photodetectors. The devices were
processed on Gallium Nitride (GaN) layers epitaxially grown on 4 inch Silicon (111) substrates by Metal-Organic
Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). Cutoff wavelength was determined together with the spectral responsivity
measurements in the Near UltraViolet (NUV) range (200nm to 400nm). Absolute spectral responsivity measurements
were performed in the EUV range (5nm to 20nm) with the synchrotron radiation using the facilities of Physikalisch-
Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), located at Berliner Elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft fuer Synchrotronstrahlung
(BESSY). The described work is done in the framework of the Blind to Optical Light Detectors (BOLD) project
supported by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Metal-Semiconductor-Metal photodiodes were fabricated on epitaxially grown AlxGa1-xN on Si(111). The Aluminium
content of the layers grown by means of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was 50, 80 and 100%, respectively. The
processing was performed by standard microelectronic fabrication techniques like photolithography, wet and dry etching
(RIE) and physical and chemical vapor deposition (PVD,CVD). The devices were characterized under illumination in a
wavelength range from 400 to 185nm to determine the cut-off wavelength defined by the band-gap energy. Typical
figures of merit like spectral responsivity R quantum efficiency &eegr; and specific detectivity D* have been extracted from
the measurement data.
PROBA2 is an ESA technology demonstration mission to be launched in early 2007. The two primary scientific instruments on board of PROBA2 are SWAP (Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System detector and Image Processing) and the LYRA VUV radiometer. SWAP provides a full disk solar imaging capability with a bandpass filter centred at 17.5 nm (FeIX-XI) and a fast cadence of ≈1 min. The telescope is based on an off-axis Ritchey Chretien design while an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) enhanced APS CMOS will be used as a detector. As the prime goal of the SWAP is solar monitoring and advance warning of Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), on-board intellige nce will be implemented. Image recognition software using experimental algorithms will be used to detect CMEs during the first phase of eruption so the event can be tracked by the spacecraft without huma n intervention. LYRA will monitor solar irradiance in four different VUV passbands with a cadence of up to 100 Hz. The four channels were chosen for their relevance to solar physics, aeronomy and space weather: 115-125 nm (Lyman-α), 200-220 nm Herzberg continuum, the 17-70 nm Aluminium filter channel (that includes the HeII line at 30.4 nm) and the 1-20 nm Zirconium filter channel. On-board calibration sources will monitor the stability of the detectors and the filters throughout the duration of the mission.
Using silicon technology, our approach to tunable VCSEL uses a micromachined suspended deformable membrane that also function as the top mirror above the semiconductor cavity by an airgap. Here, we report the design of a microelectromechanical tunable VCSELs whose frequency is centered around 1300nm. Our Mi-T-VCSELs include: - A Quantum Dots (QDs) active region of InAs ((lambda) =1300nm), - An electrically tunable vertical resonant Fabry-Perot cavity, which is formed by an air-gap and a movable membrane suspended over the active component. Our QDs Mi-T VCSEL is based on semiconductor-coupled cavity (SCC) design, where the QDs are located inside a semiconductor cavity with thickness a multiple of (lambda) /2, and an air gap, with thickness an odd multiple of N (lambda) /4, is a part of top mirror. Optical behavior of the Mi-T VCSEL is analyzed by a transfer matrix approach that includes the individual properties of the various layers. We carried out mechanical simulations of the top mirrors structures, in order to design and determine all lateral and vertical dimensions. Tuning was achieved for an applied voltage between 0-30V across the air-gap. The usable range of deflection is ~500nm.
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