Astronomical instrumentation

Abstract:

We study the radiation tolerance of the silicon and GaAs PiN diodes that will be the part of the readout system of the upgraded ATLAS pixel detector. The components were irradiated by 200 MeV protons up to total accumulated dose 1.2×1015 p/cm2 and by 24 GeV protons up to 2.6×1015 p/cm2. Based on obtained results, we conclude that radiation hardness does not depend on the sensitive area or cut off frequency of PiN diodes. We identify two diodes that can be used for the SLHC upgrade.

Abstract:

The silicon trackers of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Geneva) use optical links for data transmission. An upgrade of the trackers is planned for the Super LHC (SLHC), an upgraded LHC with ten times higher luminosity. We study the radiation-hardness of VCSELs (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) and GaAs and silicon PINs using 24 GeV/c protons at CERN for possible application in the data transmission upgrade. The optical power of VCSEL arrays decreases significantly after the irradiation but can be partially annealed with high drive currents. The responsivities of the PIN diodes also decrease significantly after irradiation, but can be recovered by operating at higher bias voltage. This provides a simple mechanism to recover from the radiation damage.

Abstract:

The silicon trackers of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Geneva) use optical links for data transmission. An upgrade of the trackers is planned for the Super LHC (SLHC), an upgraded LHC with ten times higher luminosity. We study the radiation-hardness of VCSELs (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) and GaAs and silicon PINs using 24 GeV/c protons at CERN for possible application in the data transmission upgrade. The optical power of VCSEL arrays decreases significantly after the irradiation but can be partially annealed with high drive currents. The responsivities of the PIN diodes also decrease significantly after irradiation, but can be recovered by operating at higher bias voltage. This provides a simple mechanism to recover from the radiation damage.

Abstract:

We present the Spectroscopic Imaging survey in the near-infrared (near-IR) with SINFONI (SINS) of high-redshift galaxies. With 80 objects observed and 63 detected in at least one rest-frame optical nebular emission line, mainly Hα, SINS represents the largest survey of spatially resolved gas kinematics, morphologies, and physical properties of star-forming galaxies at z 1-3. We describe the selection of the targets, the observations, and the data reduction. We then focus on the "SINS Hα sample," consisting of 62 rest-UV/optically selected sources at 1.3 < z < 2.6 for which we targeted primarily the Hα and [N II] emission lines. Only ≈ 30% of this sample had previous near-IR spectroscopic observations. The galaxies were drawn from various imaging surveys with different photometric criteria; as a whole, the SINS Hα sample covers a reasonable representation of massive M* ≳ 1010 M ·star-forming galaxies at z 1.5-2.5, with some bias toward bluer systems compared to pure K-selected samples due to the requirement of secure optical redshift. The sample spans 2 orders of magnitude in stellar mass and in absolute and specific star formation rates, with median values ≈ 3 × 1010 M ·, ≈ 70 M· yr-1, and 3 Gyr-1. The ionized gas distribution and kinematics are spatially resolved on scales ranging from 1.5 kpc for adaptive optics assisted observations to typically 4-5 kpc for seeing-limited data. The Hα morphologies tend to be irregular and/or clumpy. About one-third of the SINS Hα sample galaxies are rotation-dominated yet turbulent disks, another one-third comprises compact and velocity dispersion-dominated objects, and the remaining galaxies are clear interacting/merging systems; the fraction of rotation-dominated systems increases among the more massive part of the sample. The Hα luminosities and equivalent widths suggest on average roughly twice higher dust attenuation toward the H II regions relative to the bulk of the stars, and comparable current and past-averaged star formation rates. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society.