HAWC - a far-infrared camera for SOFIA

When SOFIA enters operation, it will be the largest far-infrared telescope available, so it will have the best intrinsic angular resolution. HAWC (High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera) is a far-infrared camera designed to cover the 40-300 micron spectral range at the highest possible angular resolution. Its purpose is to provide a sensitive, versatile, and reliable facility-imaging capability for SOFIA's user community during its first operational years. HAWC will utilize a 12×32 pixel array of bolometer detectors constructed using the ion-implanted silicon pop-up detector technology being developed at Goddard Space Flight Center. This new technology enables construction of close-packed, two-dimensional arrays of bolometers with high quantum efficiency and area filling factors of greater than 95%. The array will be cooled by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator and operated at a temperature of 0.2 K. HAWC data processing software will be developed within the context of an Observatory-wide 'data-cycle system' which will provide an integrated environment for proposal preparation, flight planning, data processing, calibration, analysis, and archiving.