scholarly journals Pre-flight qualification tests of the Mini-EUSO telescope engineering model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Bisconti ◽  
H. Miyamoto ◽  
D. Barghini ◽  
M. Battisti ◽  
A. Belov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Photon ◽  
Photon Counting ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Light Sources ◽  
Engineering Model ◽  
Single Photon Counting ◽  
Focal Surface ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Physics Department ◽  
Sky Conditions

AbstractMini-EUSO is part of the JEM-EUSO program and operates on board the International Space Station (ISS). It is a UV-telescope with single-photon counting capability looking at nighttime downwards to the Earth through a nadir-facing UV-transparent window. As part of the pre-flight tests, the Mini-EUSO engineering model, a telescope with 1/9 of the original focal surface and a lens of 2.5 cm diameter, has been built and tested. Tests of the Mini-EUSO engineering model have been made in laboratory and in open-sky conditions. Laboratory tests have been performed at the TurLab facility, located at the Physics Department of the University of Turin, equipped with a rotating tank containing different types of materials and light sources. In this way, the configuration for the observation of the Earth from space was emulated, including the Mini-EUSO trigger schemes. In addition to the qualification and calibration tests, the Mini-EUSO engineering model has also been used to evaluate the possibility of using a JEM-EUSO-type detector for applications such as observation of space debris. Furthermore, observations in open-sky conditions allowed the studies of natural light sources such as stars, meteors, planets, and artificial light sources such as airplanes, satellites reflecting the sunlight, and city lights. Most of these targets could be detected also with Mini-EUSO. In this paper, the tests in laboratory and in open-sky conditions are reported, as well as the obtained results. In addition, the contribution that such tests provided to foresee and improve the performance of Mini-EUSO on board the ISS is discussed.

Observation of ELVES from the International Space Station with the Mini-EUSO telescope

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Casolino ◽  
Mario Bertaina ◽  
Enrico Arnone ◽  
Laura Marcelli ◽  
Lech Piotrowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Space Station ◽  
Single Photon ◽  
Photon Counting ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Single Photon Counting ◽  
International Space ◽  
Focal Surface ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Ultraviolet Emissions

<p>Mini-EUSO is a telescope that observes the Earth from the International Space Station by recording ultraviolet emissions (290 ÷ 430 nm) of cosmic, atmospheric and terrestrial origin with a field of view of 44◦, a spatial resolution of 6.3 km and a temporal resolution of 2.5 mus.</p><p>The instrument is based on an optical system composed of two Fresnel lenses and a focal surface composed of 36 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes, 64 channels each, for a total of 2304 channels with single photon counting sensitivity.</p><p>Mini-EUSO is a UV telescope launched in 2019   and observing the Earth from the inside the Russian Zvezda module, through a nadir-facing UV-transparent.</p><p>It is composed of a Fresnel optics (25 cm diameter, 44 deg field of view) and a Multi Anode Photomultiplier focal surface (2304 pixels, 6km on the surface) with a single-photon counting capability and a sampling rate of 400kHz.</p><p>Its scientific objectives include the search for ultra-high energy cosmic rays (E>1e21eV), the study of  meteors and search for interstellar objects and Strange Quark Matter, the  mapping   of the Earth's night-time ultraviolet emissions, the search for space debris.</p><p>The characteristcs of the detector make it also well suited for the detection of TLEs, especially ELVES and the study of its development to extract spatial and temporal evolution.  In this article we will focus our attention on the observation of single and multi-ringed elves.</p>

Estimation of the global occurrence rate of elves with Mini-EUSO

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Battisti ◽  
Enrico Arnone ◽  
Mario Bertaina ◽  
Marco Casolino ◽  
Laura Marcelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Photon ◽  
Photon Counting ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Occurrence Rate ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Single Photon Counting ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fluorescence Light ◽  
Atmospheric Phenomena

<p>Elves are the most common type of transient luminous events, with estimates of their global occurrence rate ranging from a few to a few tens per minute. Here, we present the first derivation of the global occurrence rate of elves from Mini-EUSO observations. Mini-EUSO is a wide field of view, space-based telescope operating from a nadir-facing UV-transparent window in the Russian Zvezda module on the International Space Station. It observes the Earth’s atmosphere in the UV band with a spatial resolution of about 6.3 km and a temporal resolution of 2.5 μs. Its optical system made of two 25 cm diameter Fresnel lenses focuses the light into a square array of 48x48 pixels, each pixel being capable of single photon counting. Originally designed to detect the faint fluorescence light produced by extensive air showers induced by extreme energy cosmic rays, it was shown to be capable of detecting a wide range of atmospheric phenomena, including elves. Elves are dynamically traced by Mini-EUSO in their horizontally expanding, fast donut-shaped light emissions and can therefore be unequivocally identified. Mini-EUSO can usually detect elves whose center is just outside the field of view, following the expansion of the ring for hundreds of microseconds. Combining the number of detected elves with consideration of the time and geometries, it is possible to derive a first estimate of their global occurrence rate with Mini-EUSO, and to compare it to the literature. </p>

The IDES System—An Image Dissector Echelle Spectrometer System for Spectrochemical Analysis

1976 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Danielsson ◽  
P. Lindblom
Keyword(s):  
Single Photon ◽  
Photon Counting ◽  
Continuous Light ◽  
Spectrochemical Analysis ◽  
High Dispersion ◽  
Light Sources ◽  
Echelle Spectrograph ◽  
Single Photon Counting ◽  
Spectrometer System ◽  
Echelle Spectrometer

The image dissector echelle spectrometer system consists of a stigmatic, coma-compensated echelle spectrograph with high resolution and high dispersion, an image dissector tube with specially designed focusing and deflection coils and a minicomputer with 16K memory. The whole spectral range, i.e., from 200 to 800 nm, is focused on the photocathode of the image tube in 91 spectral segments (spectral orders). The measurement of the spectrum, involving wavelength selection and intensity measuring through single-photon counting, is performed by the computer. The standard software contains programs for focusing, wavelength calibration, scanning, and spectrochemical analysis. IDES is a multipurpose and multielement spectrometer which can be adapted for any application in analytical spectroscopy by utilizing the appropriate software program. The fields of application of the IDES system are: emission from combustion and electrical flames; dc arcs; hollow cathodes and glow discharges; atomic absorption; and fluorescence with line and continuous light sources.

scholarly journals A lifetime in photochemistry; some ultrafast measurements on singlet states

2016 ◽  
Vol 472 (2190) ◽  
pp. 20160102 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Single Photon ◽  
Photon Counting ◽  
Supersonic Jet ◽  
Rotational Relaxation ◽  
Light Sources ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Single Photon Counting ◽  
Laser Systems

We describe here the development of time-correlated single-photon counting techniques from the early use of spark discharge lamps as light sources through to the use of femtosecond mode-locked lasers through the personal work of the author. We used laser-excited fluorescence in studies on energy migration and rotational relaxation in synthetic polymer solutions, in biological probe molecules and in supersonic jet expansions. Time-correlated single-photon counting was the first method used in early fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), and we outline the development of this powerful technique, with a comparison of techniques including wide-field microscopy. We employed these modern forms of FLIM to study single biological cells, and applied FLIM also to gain an understanding the distribution in tissue, and fates of photosensitizer molecules used in photodynamic therapy. We also describe the uses and instrumental design of laser systems for the study of ultrafast time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy.

Single Point PICA Probing with an Avalanche Photo-Diode

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Bruce ◽  
Rama R. Goruganthu ◽  
Shawn McBride ◽  
David Bethke ◽  
J.M. Chin
Keyword(s):  
Single Photon ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Photon Counting ◽  
Ring Oscillator ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Single Photon Counting ◽  
Photo Diode ◽  
Avalanche Photo Diode ◽  
Photo Multiplier Tube ◽  
Channel Plate

Abstract For time resolved hot carrier emission from the backside, an alternate approach is demonstrated termed single point PICA. The single point approach records time resolved emission from an individual transistor using time-correlated-single-photon counting and an avalanche photo-diode. The avalanche photo-diode has a much higher quantum efficiency than micro-channel plate photo-multiplier tube based imaging cameras typically used in earlier approaches. The basic system is described and demonstrated from the backside on a ring oscillator circuit.

scholarly journals UVscope and its application aboard the ASTRI-Horn telescope

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Concetta Maccarone ◽  
Giovanni La Rosa ◽  
Osvaldo Catalano ◽  
Salvo Giarrusso ◽  
Alberto Segreto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Single Photon ◽  
Photon Counting ◽  
Light Flux ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
High Energy Astrophysics ◽  
Single Photon Counting ◽  
Photon Counting Mode

AbstractUVscope is an instrument, based on a multi-pixel photon detector, developed to support experimental activities for high-energy astrophysics and cosmic ray research. The instrument, working in single photon counting mode, is designed to directly measure light flux in the wavelengths range 300-650 nm. The instrument can be used in a wide field of applications where the knowledge of the nocturnal environmental luminosity is required. Currently, one UVscope instrument is allocated onto the external structure of the ASTRI-Horn Cherenkov telescope devoted to the gamma-ray astronomy at very high energies. Being co-aligned with the ASTRI-Horn camera axis, UVscope can measure the diffuse emission of the night sky background simultaneously with the ASTRI-Horn camera, without any interference with the main telescope data taking procedures. UVscope is properly calibrated and it is used as an independent reference instrument for test and diagnostic of the novel ASTRI-Horn telescope.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document