Detection of Light - Spring Semester 2020

Location & Time

The lectures take place in room HL 414 in the Huygens building, on Fridays from 14:15 - 16:00 hr (unless otherwise noted - check schedule below).

Lecturers

• The lecturer of 'Part A' is Prof. Dr. Bernhard Brandl, office: HL 1106 (Huygens building), phone (071) 527 5830, email.
• The co-lecturer of 'Part A' is Dr. Leo Burtscher, office: HL 1109c (Huygens building), phone (071) 527 6434, email , website.
• The teaching assistant for both parts is Patrick Dorval, office: HL1103, email, office hours: Mondays & Thursdays 13:00 – 14:00 hr.

Course level is 500. The course language is English.

Course concept and content

Detectors are the crucial link between the astronomical target and the observer. As astronomers are aiming at fainter and fainter objects the quality and calibration of the detector systems have become increasingly important. The main goal of this course is to provide an overview of the various physical principles and techniques to detect electromagnetic radiation, from the UV to the sub-millimeter.

The course is split in two parts:

'Part A' (3 ECTS) is aimed at the observational astronomer and provides an overview of common  detector technologies and their operation.  Course topics are intrinsic and extrinsic photo-conductors, photodiodes and other junction-based detectors, detector arrays, bolometers, coherent receivers, and submillimeter- and millimeterwave heterodyne receivers. The course will not only provide the physical background of the various detector technologies but also cover practical aspects, which are of general interest to the observer, such as cosmetic quality and detector artifacts, linearity and dynamical range, spectral response and bandwidth, quantum efficiency and noise.

For students of Astronomy (Research) following DTL, part A is mandatory, part B is optional; for Instrumentation students, both parts are mandatory. Students who want to get credits for 'Part B' must have followed 'Part A' before.

Credits and grading

'Part A' and 'Part B' each count ECTS (3+3).

The grade for 'Part A' is based to 80% on the written exam and to 20% on the mandatory homeworks. There are 8 sets of homeworks, which will be distributed after each lecture via the course website, and which shall be handed-in, on paper, at the start of the subsequent lecture (usually one week later). The exam is on Friday, 17 April 2020, 14:15 - 18:00 hr. It is a written, "closed book" exam. Pocket calculators are required at the exam.

In order to get the credits for 'Part B', one has to attend the lectures of 'Part B', as well as write a report, which is mainly a literature study on a topic which is related to one of the guest lectures.  The report has to be written within six weeks and will not receive a numerical grade but receive an O/V/G "grade".

Literature

The course will be heavily based on the book Detection of Light - from the Ultraviolet to the Submillimeter, by George Rieke, 2nd Edition, 2003, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-01710-6, paperback ~90 €. It is recommended that students get their own copy of this book.

Recommended for further reading are:

• Infrared Detectors (2^nd Edition) by Antoni Rogalski, CRC Press, hardcover ~190 €, ebook ~35 €
• Introduction to Solid State Physics (8th Edition) by Charles Kittel;
• Electronic Imaging in Astronomy: Detectors and Instrumentation (2nd Edition) by Ian S. McLean;
• Observational Astrophysics by P. Lena, Francoise Lebrun & Francois Mignard;

Schedule 'Part A'

Program 'Part B'

The guest lectures for 'Part B' run from 8 May through 19 June.  There will be 6 lectures (on May 22nd, the university will be closed).