Performance evaluation of 5 µm cut-off Hawaii-2RG detectors using the fast readout amplifiers

ESO has begun an ambitious mid-IR detector program with the funded development of a new Raytheon detector (AQUARIUS) and the further development of instruments to use 5 μm cut-off material Teledyne HAWAII-2RG detectors. Both these detector types are capable of extremely high readout speeds, through multiple readout ports, resulting in data rates in excess of 250 Mbytes/s. This has required further development of our new detector controller system (NGC) to allow it to operate at these very high pixel data rates. This has also entailed the development of new high speed pre-amplifiers which can operate at 60K to allow us to drive the long cable runs typical of an astronomical instrument. We report on the development and performance of our new higher speed NGC systems with particular regard to the operation of a Hawaii-2RG detector configured to use its high speed readout stages. We will present data on the performance of such at device, configured to operate in both slow and fast readout modes, with particular regard to noise versus pixel speed and also the optimization of the voltages.