The PICNIC Interferometry Camera at IOTA

Abstract

We describe the control and performance of a new near‐infrared camera based on a Rockwell PICNIC array detector for interferometry observations at the Infrared‐Optical Telescope Array (IOTA). The camera control uses a complex programmable logic device that allows fast and stable clocking of the PICNIC array and on‐the‐fly reconfiguration of the readout method. We measured a read noise as low as 12.4 e per correlated double sample. The read noise can be reduced even more through nondestructive readout, and decreases as the square root of the number of successive reads. We discuss the advantages of this system for near‐infrared interferometry.