SCUBA-2: CCD-style imaging for the JCMT [Abstract-

SCUBA-2, which will replace SCUBA (the Submillimeter Common User Bolometer Array) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), will be the first CCD-like array for submillimeter astronomy. Unlike previous detectors which have used discrete bolometers, SCUBA-2 has two dc-coupled, monolithic, filled arrays with a total of ~10,000 bolometers. It will offer simultaneous imaging of an 8\times8 arcmin field of view at wavelengths of 850 and 450\rm\ \mu m. SCUBA-2 is expected to have a huge impact on the study of galaxy formation and evolution in the early Universe as well as star and planet formation in our own Galaxy. Mapping the sky to the same S/N up to 1000 times faster than SCUBA, it will also act as a pathfinder for the new submillimeter interferometers such as ALMA. SCUBA-2's absorber-coupled pixels use superconducting transition edge sensors operating at ~120\rm\ mK for photon-noise limited performance and a SQUID time-domain multiplexer for readout. The SCUBA-2 detectors are at the prototype stage and we expect to deliver science-grade arrays to the telescope in late 2005. We describe the key technologies that make SCUBA-2 possible and the unique capabilities that it will bring to submillimeter astronomy