The Gamma Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is proposed to be part of the Small Size Telescope (SST) array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The GCT dual-mirror optical design allows the use of a compact camera of diameter roughly 0.4 m. The curved focal plane is equipped with 2048 pixels of ~0.2{\deg} angular size, resulting in a field of view of ~9{\deg}. The GCT camera is designed to record the flashes of Cherenkov light from electromagnetic cascades, which last only a few tens of nanoseconds. Modules based on custom ASICs provide the required fast electronics, facilitating sampling and digitisation as well as first level of triggering. The first GCT camera prototype is currently being commissioned in the UK. On-telescope tests are planned later this year. Here we give a detailed description of the camera prototype and present recent progress with testing and commissioning.
@article{arxiv.1509.01480,
title = {The first GCT camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array},
author = {A. De Franco and R. White and D. Allan and T. Armstrong and T. Ashton and A. Balzer and D. Berge and R. Bose and A. M. Brown and J. Buckley and P. M. Chadwick and P. Cooke and G. Cotter and M. K. Daniel and S. Funk and T. Greenshaw and J. Hinton and M. Kraus and J. Lapington and P. Molyneux and P. Moore and S. Nolan and A. Okumura and D. Ross and C. Rulten and J. Schmoll and H. Schoorlemmer and M. Stephan and P. Sutcliffe and H. Tajima and J. Thornhill and L. Tibaldo and G. Varner and J. Watson and A. Zink},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.01480},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.05894