A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO USING A LINEAR PHOTODIODE ARRAY AS A HIGH RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPIC DETECTOR

Author Institution:This paper describe the incorporation of a cooled photodiode array into an existing laboratory system for high resolution optical spectroscopy, with a minimal amount of electronic and physical modification. The array, manufactured by EG \& G Reticon, has a sensing area approximately one inch long consisting of 1024 photodiodes on 25 micron centers. It is mounted in the camera position of a 1.5 meter Jobin-Yvon monochromator and is potentially transferable to other instruments. It can see an approximately 50{\AA} region of the spectrum with a resolution of .05{\AA} per channel. The Reticon array is interfaced with a Hewlett-Packard 9835A minicomputer which is used for data gathering, storage, and manipulation. It is well known that cooling the array causes a drastic reduction in dark current, enabling measurement of weak signals over extended integration times. We will report on the results of tests using a modified photomultiplier tube housing. Our objective is to measure the performance attainable by refrigerating only the chip, leaving the original control board (that can be purchased with the chip) intact and external to the housing