Rockwell Scientific to Develop Detectors for Ground-Based Astronomy

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., August 8 -- Rockwell Scientific Co. (RSC) has been awarded two $2.2 million contracts -- from Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and Gemini Observatory -- to fabricate and deliver, to each organization, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) mercury cadmium telluride 2048 x 2048 short-wave infrared sensor chip assemblies on HAWAII-2RG multiplexers.

Sets of four focal plane arrays will be "tiled" into 2 x 2 mosaic configurations totaling 4096 x 4096 pixels. One of the 4096 x 4096 mosaics will be installed in the CFHT wide-field infrared camera (WIRCAM) instrument on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the other mosaic will be installed in the adaptive optics near-infrared imager on Gemini South in Chile.

"We are extremely pleased to have been chosen to make the focal plane arrays for these two giants in the ground-based astronomy community. These devices will enable new science observations that have not been technologically possible before," said Kadri Vural, vice president of the Imaging Div. at Rockwell Scientific.