Caltech Optical Observatories Cahill Reference TWiki
Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics
General Instrumentation Meetings and Workshops
COO Lunch Time talks
12:30pm Wednesdays. See links above for details.
July 19 |
Pavan Bilgi |
Concurrent Clocking |
Pavan shows off a magic trick that makes most of the parallel transfer overhead disappear and reveals his next trick which will be to make charge traps disappear. |
July 26 |
Michael Feeney |
JT Cooler Survival Guide |
Michael tells how we escape from the grips of Polycold, an unreliable and expensive supplier, by developing in-house capability to diagnose and fix Cryotiger problems, find alternate sources, and refurbish used parts. |
Aug 2 |
Roger Smith |
Vacuum Advice |
What's important? What's not? How much to pump and how seldom. Initial cleaning and baking. Use a leak detector as your pumping station, but don't do stupid stuff. Cold traps. Underlying physics. Vital roles of getters and desiccants. Gauge types and ion pumps. How your cooling system affects all this. |
Aug 9 |
Smith and Kaye |
Waveform Definition Language |
We have a powerful new tool, a Waveform Compiler that interprets timing rules written in any order the user sees fit It configures the controller to make those waveforms happen, or plots them on a screen in a matter of seconds. At the same time the tool keeps the host software informed so detector engineer has a single point of control. |
TBD |
Delacroix |
ZTF Window Supports 2 Tons |
The optical design wants the window to be thinner, but if it fails it kills the instrument and we are all going to be unemployed. Come find out how we achieved adequate safety margin for this brittle component, that has to support 2 tons of atmosphere. |
TBD |
Smith |
ZTF window demister |
Thermal modelling shows that ZTF window will frost up. Come hear about how our AR coating provides >30W of make up heat |
TBD |
Steve Kaye |
Optmizing the ZTF pixel timing |
Squeezing the most out of the pixel time to maximize noise averaging at 1 MHz pixel rate, or to go even faster. POSTPONED so we can include some interesting new discoveries. |
TBD |
TBD |
Focal Surface Metrology with On Sky Imaging |
Deviations of ZTF CCDs from the spherical focal surface delivered by the 48" schmidt have been measured using classic through-focus scans and extra-focal image analysis. Results differ somewhat but both report unexplained curvature. Both survive testing with elaborate artifical data incorporating aberrations, diffraction, beam obstructions and vignetting by primary. Bring your ideas. |
Suggestions for talks? ...contact Roger Smith,
rsmith@astro.caltech.edu
Universities Space Research Association