Charge coupled devices at ESO — Performances and results

The Optical Detector Team at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is in charge of developing, installing and maintaining all optical detector systems for ESO’s La Silla and Paranal observatories. A CCD controller named FIERA was developed in-house 3 years ago to accommodate a variety of new generation CCDs manufactured by EEV, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Tektronix/SITe. These CCDs are used for imaging, spectroscopy and adaptive optics applications. The main goal of developing FIERA was to achieve the best performances possible with present and future developments in CCD technology. Over the last 3 years 11 optical detector systems have been delivered to the telescope with readout speeds up to 625 kilopixel per second per port and a read noise performance under 2 electrons rms at a readout speed of 50 kilopixel per second per port. With automated equipment and routines, we are able to undertake a broad range of tests with minimal manual interaction involved. This paper reviews the current performance and results obtained with the CCDs in the lab and under telescope operations.