Characterisation of the ILMT 4K x 4K TDI CCD imager

Abstract

In this work, we determine the gain and read-out noise of the 4Kx4K CCD imager used with the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT). Due to the zenith-pointing characteristic of the telescope, the CCD operates in the Time Delay Integration (TDI) mode for image acquisition. The CCD frames obtained during rising twilight have non-uniform illumination and can potentially be used to calculate important CCD parameters using two approaches. The first approach directly measures variance in flux along rows with minimum horizontal gradient, despite the strong vertical illumination gradient. The second method divides the CCD frame into regions exposed to similar background illumination and analyses the flux ratio variation between the two regions. Mathematically, we establish a linear relationship between the signal variance and average flux, from which gain is determined, while the read-out noise (RON) is measured independently from the bias frames. Both methods provide a gain value of approximately 3.9 e/ADU, while the RON measured from bias frames is 1.55 ADU (~ 6 e). Estimation of these parameters provides a better understanding of the CCD performance and allows for an accurate calibration.