S-Cam is a cryogenic camera for ground-based astronomy using superconducting tunnel junctions (STJ's). It has been designed as a technology demonstrator, aiming to prove the potential of a new generation of single photon-counting detectors at a ground-based telescope. The camera is based on a 6/spl times/6 array of Ta-Al Josephson junctions, operating at about 350 mK and individually read out. For each detected photon, the absorption position, the arrival time, and the corresponding energy are measured. In this paper, we provide an overview of the cryogenic detector performance, a description of the S-Cam system, and a summary of the results obtained both during testing at ESTEC and during actual observations at the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) in La Palma, Spain. Initial astronomical observations were performed on the Crab pulsar, a neutron star spinning with a period of 33 msec at about 6000 light years from Earth.
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机译：S-Cam是使用超导隧道结（STJ）用于地面天文学的低温摄像机。它已被设计为技术演示器，旨在证明基于地面望远镜的新一代单光子计数探测器的潜力。该相机基于Ta / Al Josephson交汇点的6 / spl times / 6阵列，工作于约350 mK并单独读出。对于每个检测到的光子，测量吸收位置，到达时间和相应的能量。在本文中，我们提供了低温探测器性能的概述，S-Cam系统的描述以及在ESTEC进行测试期间以及在拉帕尔玛的William Herschel望远镜（WHT）进行实际观测时所获得的结果的摘要。 ，西班牙。最初的天文观测是在蟹状脉冲星上进行的，它是一颗离地球约6000光年，旋转周期为33毫秒的中子星。
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