ハワイ島標高4205mのマウナケア山頂にあるすばる望遠鏡。その超広視野主焦点カメラ「Hyper Suprime-Cam」 (ハイパー・シュプリーム・カム, HSC)には浜松ホトニクス製の世界最高感度を誇るCCDエリアイメージセンサが搭載されています。
他社ではできないもの、これまでにないものを作りだす浜松ホトニクスの精神がここにも息づいています。
HSCに搭載されたCCD
すばる望遠鏡は、ハワイ島マウナケア山頂にある国立の大型光学赤外線望遠鏡で、画期的な観測性能をもつ新世代の望遠鏡です。すばる望遠鏡は、宇宙膨張の歴史とダークエネルギーを計測することを目的にしていて、ダークマターの分布を重力レンズ効果を用いて直接観測します。そのためには非常に広い領域を観測する必要があり、2001年より新型HSCの開発に着手し、2012年に試験運用を開始しました。
マウナケア山頂のすばる望遠鏡[提供:国立天文台]
今回すばる望遠鏡に新たに搭載された HSCのCCDイメージセンサ は、浜松ホトニクスが国立天文台、大阪大学、京都大学と共同で開発したものです。
HSCには116個のCCDが搭載されており、満月9個分の広さの天域を一度に撮影できる世界最高性能の超広視野カメラとなっています。
HSCは2012年8月に初めてすばる望遠鏡に搭載され、その後、性能試験観測が進められていましたが、ファーストライト※でアンドロメダ銀河のほぼ全体を1視野で捉えることに成功しました。同銀河は地球から約230万光年先にあり、最も銀河系に近い渦巻き銀河で、直径が20万光年以上あるため、地上の大型望遠鏡ではこれまで、全体を一度に撮ることはできませんでした。
※ファーストライト : 完成した望遠鏡等の光学機材が、当初予定されていた性能に達しているかを確認する最初の観測のこと。
すばる望遠鏡がとらえたアンドロメダ銀河 M31 [提供:国立天文台]
1μm=1/1000mm
CCDの平坦度:CCD製造後、研磨できない中で、10μm程度の平坦度を実現
大面積CCDでは、たわみなどで平坦度が悪くなりますが、たわみを最小限に抑える組立技術を確立し、タイル状に並べた全体での高さばらつきを40 µm程度に抑えました。この CCD の技術は、軟X線ダイレクト検出器やラマン分光分析などに発展し、今後も近赤外線・軟X線・電子線などの応用が期待されています。
CCDの近赤外線高感度化は、遠くの天体を観測に最適
すばる望遠鏡で採用されたCCDでは、厚いシリコンを用いた完全空乏型・裏面入射型構造によって近赤外域における高い感度を実現しました。遠ざかっている天体から出る光の波長は長波長(赤外)にずれるという性質を使って、銀河のスペクトル線の波長のずれを観測することで、天体の速度を知ることができます。そこでHSCのCCDは、シリコン厚を従来の5倍の200μmまで厚くして近赤外域の量子効率を高めながら、結晶欠陥がない超高抵抗のN型シリコンにバックバイアスを印加して完全空乏化することで解像度の劣化を抑えました。
左下に拡大した赤い天体が129.1億光年先の銀河 SXDF-NB1006-2[提供:国立天文台]
すばる望遠鏡の主焦点カメラ等を用いた観測によって、129.1億年前(ビッグバンから7.5億年後)の宇宙が観測されました。一度に広い視野を観測できる当社製CCDが用いられた「すばる望遠鏡の主焦点カメラ」によって、暗くて数少ない遠方の銀河を発見することが可能になります。
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