The solar orbiter Metis and EUI intensified CMOS-APS detectors: concept, main characteristics, and performance

Abstract

Two instruments aboard the Solar Orbiter mission, the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager and the Metis coronagraph, are using cameras of similar design to obtain images in the Lyman alpha line of hydrogen at 121.6 nm. Each of these cameras is based on an APS sensor used as readout of a single microchannel plate intensifier unit whose output current is converted into visible light photons through a phosphor screen. Before integration on the respective instruments, both detector's flight models have been characterized and calibrated. In this paper, we describe the two camera systems, the results of qualification tests, and report their performance characteristics.