Euclid. II. The VIS Instrument
Abstract
This paper presents the specification, design, and development of the Visible Camera (VIS) on the ESA Euclid mission. VIS is a large optical-band imager with a field of view of 0.54 deg^2 sampled at 0.1" with an array of 609 Megapixels and spatial resolution of 0.18". It will be used to survey approximately 14,000 deg^2 of extragalactic sky to measure the distortion of galaxies in the redshift range z=0.1-1.5 resulting from weak gravitational lensing, one of the two principal cosmology probes of Euclid. With photometric redshifts, the distribution of dark matter can be mapped in three dimensions, and, from how this has changed with look-back time, the nature of dark energy and theories of gravity can be constrained. The entire VIS focal plane will be transmitted to provide the largest images of the Universe from space to date, reaching m_AB>24.5 with S/N >10 in a single broad I_E~(r+i+z) band over a six year survey. The particularly challenging aspects of the instrument are the control and calibration of observational biases, which lead to stringent performance requirements and calibration regimes. With its combination of spatial resolution, calibration knowledge, depth, and area covering most of the extra-Galactic sky, VIS will also provide a legacy data set for many other fields. This paper discusses the rationale behind the VIS concept and describes the instrument design and development before reporting the pre-launch performance derived from ground calibrations and brief results from the in-orbit commissioning. VIS should reach fainter than m_AB=25 with S/N>10 for galaxies of full-width half-maximum of 0.3" in a 1.3" diameter aperture over the Wide Survey, and m_AB>26.4 for a Deep Survey that will cover more than 50 deg^2. The paper also describes how VIS works with the other Euclid components of survey, telescope, and science data processing to extract the cosmological information.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2405.13492,
title = {Euclid. II. The VIS Instrument},
author = {Euclid Collaboration and M. S. Cropper and A. Al-Bahlawan and J. Amiaux and S. Awan and R. Azzollini and K. Benson and M. Berthe and J. Boucher and E. Bozzo and C. Brockley-Blatt and G. P. Candini and C. Cara and R. A. Chaudery and R. E. Cole and P. Danto and J. Denniston and A. M. Di Giorgio and B. Dryer and J. -P. Dubois and J. Endicott and M. Farina and E. Galli and L. Genolet and J. P. D. Gow and P. Guttridge and M. Hailey and D. Hall and C. Harper and H. Hoekstra and A. D. Holland and B. Horeau and D. Hu and R. E. James and A. Khalil and R. King and T. Kitching and R. Kohley and C. Larcheveque and A. Lawrenson and P. Liebing and S. J. Liu and J. Martignac and R. Massey and H. J. McCracken and L. Miller and N. Murray and R. Nakajima and S. -M. Niemi and J. W. Nightingale and S. Paltani and A. Pendem and A. Philippon and C. Plana and P. Pool and S. Pottinger and G. D. Racca and J. Rhodes and A. Rousseau and K. Ruane and M. Salatti and J. -C. Salvignol and A. Sciortino and A. Short and J. Skottfelt and S. J. A. Smit and I. Swindells and M. Szafraniec and P. D. Thomas and W. Thomas and E. Tommasi and S. Tosti and F. Visticot and D. M. Walton and G. Willis and B. Winter and N. Aghanim and B. Altieri and A. Amara and S. Andreon and N. Auricchio and H. Aussel and C. Baccigalupi and M. Baldi and A. Balestra and S. Bardelli and A. Basset and R. Bender and F. Bernardeau and C. Bodendorf and T. Boenke and D. Bonino and E. Branchini and M. Brescia and J. Brinchmann and S. Camera and V. Capobianco and C. Carbone and V. F. Cardone and J. Carretero and R. Casas and S. Casas and F. J. Castander and M. Castellano and G. Castignani and S. Cavuoti and A. Cimatti and C. Colodro-Conde and G. Congedo and C. J. Conselice and L. Conversi and Y. Copin and F. Courbin and H. M. Courtois and M. Crocce and J. -G. Cuby and J. -C. Cuillandre and A. Da Silva and H. Degaudenzi and G. De Lucia and J. Dinis and C. Dolding and M. Douspis and C. A. J. Duncan and X. Dupac and S. Dusini and A. Ealet and M. Fabricius and S. Farrens and S. Ferriol and P. Fosalba and S. Fotopoulou and M. Frailis and E. Franceschi and P. Franzetti and P. -A. Frugier and M. Fumana and S. Galeotta and B. Garilli and K. George and W. Gillard and B. Gillis and C. Giocoli and P. Gómez-Alvarez and B. R. Granett and A. Grazian and F. Grupp and L. Guzzo and S. V. H. Haugan and O. Herent and J. Hoar and M. S. Holliman and W. Holmes and I. Hook and F. Hormuth and A. Hornstrup and P. Hudelot and S. Ilić and K. Jahnke and M. Jhabvala and B. Joachimi and E. Keihänen and S. Kermiche and A. Kiessling and M. Kilbinger and B. Kubik and K. Kuijken and M. Kümmel and M. Kunz and H. Kurki-Suonio and O. Lahav and R. Laureijs and S. Ligori and P. B. Lilje and V. Lindholm and I. Lloro and J. Lorenzo Alvarez and G. Mainetti and D. Maino and E. Maiorano and O. Mansutti and S. Marcin and O. Marggraf and K. Markovic and M. Martinelli and N. Martinet and F. Marulli and D. C. Masters and S. Maurogordato and E. Medinaceli and S. Mei and M. Melchior and Y. Mellier and M. Meneghetti and E. Merlin and G. Meylan and J. J. Mohr and M. Moresco and L. Moscardini and C. Neissner and R. C. Nichol and T. Nutma and C. Padilla and K. Paech and F. Pasian and J. A. Peacock and K. Pedersen and W. J. Percival and V. Pettorino and S. Pires and G. Polenta and M. Poncet and L. A. Popa and L. Pozzetti and F. Raison and R. Rebolo and A. Refregier and A. Renzi and G. Riccio and Hans-Walter Rix and E. Romelli and M. Roncarelli and C. Rosset and E. Rossetti and H. J. A. Rottgering and B. Rusholme and R. Saglia and Z. Sakr and A. G. Sánchez and D. Sapone and M. Sauvage and R. Scaramella and J. A. Schewtschenko and M. Schirmer and P. Schneider and T. Schrabback and A. Secroun and E. Sefusatti and G. Seidel and M. Seiffert and S. Serrano and C. Sirignano and G. Sirri and L. Stanco and J. -L. Starck and J. Steinwagner and P. Tallada-Crespí and D. Tavagnacco and A. N. Taylor and H. I. Teplitz and I. Tereno and R. Toledo-Moreo and F. Torradeflot and I. Tutusaus and E. A. Valentijn and L. Valenziano and T. Vassallo and G. Verdoes Kleijn and A. Veropalumbo and S. Wachter and Y. Wang and J. Weller and G. Zamorani and J. Zoubian and E. Zucca and A. Biviano and M. Bolzonella and A. Boucaud and C. Burigana and M. Calabrese and P. Casenove and D. Di Ferdinando and J. A. Escartin Vigo and G. Fabbian and R. Farinelli and F. Finelli and J. Gracia-Carpio and H. Israel and N. Mauri and H. N. Nguyen-Kim and A. Pezzotta and M. Pöntinen and C. Porciani and V. Scottez and M. Tenti and M. Viel and M. Wiesmann and Y. Akrami and V. Allevato and S. Anselmi and E. Aubourg and M. Ballardini and D. Bertacca and M. Bethermin and A. Blanchard and L. Blot and S. Borgani and A. S. Borlaff and S. Bruton and R. Cabanac and A. Calabro and G. Calderone and G. Canas-Herrera and A. Cappi and C. S. Carvalho and T. Castro and K. C. Chambers and R. Chary and S. Contarini and A. R. Cooray and O. Cordes and M. Costanzi and O. Cucciati and S. Davini and B. De Caro and G. Desprez and A. Díaz-Sánchez and S. Di Domizio and H. Dole and S. Escoffier and A. G. Ferrari and P. G. Ferreira and I. Ferrero and A. Finoguenov and A. Fontana and F. Fornari and L. Gabarra and K. Ganga and J. García-Bellido and V. Gautard and E. Gaztanaga and F. Giacomini and F. Gianotti and G. Gozaliasl and A. Gregorio and A. Hall and W. G. Hartley and H. Hildebrandt and J. Hjorth and M. Huertas-Company and O. Ilbert and A. Jimenez Muñoz and S. Joudaki and J. J. E. Kajava and V. Kansal and D. Karagiannis and C. C. Kirkpatrick and F. Lacasa and J. Le Graet and L. Legrand and G. Libet and A. Loureiro and J. Macias-Perez and M. Magliocchetti and C. Mancini and F. Mannucci and R. Maoli and C. J. A. P. Martins and S. Matthew and L. Maurin and C. J. R. McPartland and R. B. Metcalf and M. Migliaccio and M. Miluzio and P. Monaco and C. Moretti and G. Morgante and S. Nadathur and Nicholas A. Walton and J. Odier and M. Oguri and L. Patrizii and V. Popa and D. Potter and A. Pourtsidou and P. Reimberg and I. Risso and P. -F. Rocci and R. P. Rollins and M. Sahlén and C. Scarlata and J. Schaye and A. Schneider and M. Schultheis and M. Sereno and F. Shankar and G. Sikkema and A. Silvestri and P. Simon and A. Spurio Mancini and J. Stadel and S. A. Stanford and K. Tanidis and C. Tao and N. Tessore and G. Testera and M. Tewes and R. Teyssier and S. Toft and S. Tosi and A. Troja and M. Tucci and C. Valieri and J. Valiviita and D. Vergani and F. Vernizzi and G. Verza and P. Vielzeuf and J. R. Weaver and L. Zalesky and I. A. Zinchenko and M. Archidiacono and F. Atrio-Barandela and T. Bouvard and F. Caro and P. Dimauro and P. -A. Duc and Y. Fang and A. M. N. Ferguson and T. Gasparetto and C. M. Gutierrez and I. Kovačić and S. Kruk and A. M. C. Le Brun and T. I. Liaudat and A. Montoro and A. Mora and C. Murray and L. Pagano and D. Paoletti and E. Sarpa and A. Viitanen and J. Lesgourgues and J. Martín-Fleitas and D. Scott},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.13492},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
Paper submitted as part of the A&A special issue `Euclid on Sky', which contains Euclid key reference papers and first results from the Euclid Early Release Observations (A&A reference aa50996-24). This revision is the version accepted by A&A on 19 September 2024. Other than changes to the author list, changes are limited to editorial and journal style