Detection of Light 2011
This is the webpage for the "Detection of Light" course at Leiden University in Spring 2011.
Location and Time
The lecture courses take place in the Huygens Laboratorium Room 204 on Thursdays from 13:45 to 15.30 hr and the practical exercises are in the Computer Room 421. The teaching period is from Thursday 03 February to Thursday 12 May 2011.
Lecturer
Dr. Matthew Kenworthy, office in Oort building Room 463. Phone: (071) 527 8455. email
Teaching assistant is Edith Fayolle, Office Room 508. email
Course Content
Our knowledge of the planets, stars and galaxies we see in the sky have been transformed by the detectors we use for state of the art research. This main goal of this course is to provide an overview of the various techniques we use to detect the electromagnetic radiation, from the far ultra-violet through to the sub-millimetre. We will cover the basic underlying principles of the detectors used in astronomy today, their strengths and weaknesses, and practical information on their use which will help the observer, such as:
- Linearity
- Dynamic Range
- Spectral Response
- Bandwidth
- Quantum efficiency
- Noise
See the schedule below.
Literature
The course is based on the book Detection of Light - from the Ultraviolet to the Submillimeter by George Rieke.
It it highly advised that you buy a copy of this book for the course!
Other books that are worth reading are:
- On Solid State physics and CCDs - Chapters 7 and 8 of To Measure the Sky
- Electronic Imaging in Astronomy by Ian S. McLean
Grading
- Credits for the course: 6 EC points.
Exams will be oral, by appointment. Grades will be based on the oral exam (2/3) and two practical exercises involving data reduction/analysis with IDL (1/3). The theoretical exercises on Tuesdays are optional but strongly recommended; the practical exercises are mandatory and also given on Tuesday (see schedule below).
Requirements
- Course language is English
- Course level is 400/500
- Basic knowledge of solid state physics (Level of "Introduction to Solid State Physics" by Charles Kittel).
- A computer account at the Sterrewacht or IDL access elsewhere.
To get a computer account at the Sterrewacht, talk to the computer group, Huygens Lab (Room 407). Computers are located in the Hugens Lab (Room 421).
Schedule
| Date | Title | |
| 2/3/2011 | Lecture 1 | Introduction |
| 2/10/2011 | Lecture 2 | Solid State Physics and Homework 1 |
| 2/15/2011 | Homework Session 1 | |
| 2/17/2011 | Lecture 3 | Intrinsic Photoconductors and Noise and Homework 2 |
| 2/24/2011 | Lecture 4 | Extrinsic Photoconductors and Homework 3 |
| 3/1/2011 | Homework Session 2 | |
| 3/3/2011 | Lecture 5 | Stressed and BIB Detectors and Photodiodes and Homework 4 |
| 3/10/2011 | Lecture 6 | Photodiodes and variants and Homework 5 |
| 3/15/2011 | Homework Session 3 | |
| 3/17/2011 | Lecture 7 | Detector arrays, Artifacts, and Readout Electronics |
| 3/24/2011 | Lecture 8 | Multiplexers and readout schemes and Homework 7 |
| 3/29/2011 | Lecture 9 | CCDs and Homework 8 |
| 3/31/2011 | Practicum 1 - DOL_template.pro, image1, image2, image3a, image3b, image3c (right click and "Save Link As" for the files) | |
| 4/7/2011 | Lecture 10 | Bolometers (1 of 2) and Homework 9 |
| 4/12/2011 | Homework Session 4 | |
| 4/14/2011 | Lecture 11 | Bolometers (2 of 2) |
| 4/21/2011 | Lecture 12 | Coherent Receivers and Heterodyne Techniques (1 of 3) |
| 4/26/2011 | Practicum 2 - image_1.fits, image_2.fits, image_3.fits (right click and "Save Link As" for the files) | |
| 4/28/2011 | Lecture 13 | Heterodyne Receivers (2 of 3) and Homework 11 |
| 5/5/2011 | Liberation Day | NO CLASS |
| 5/10/2011 | Homework Session 6 | |
| 5/12/2011 | Lecture 14 | Heterodyne Receivers (3 of 3) |