The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) for the Herschel Space Observatory

Abstract

The Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) is one of the three science instruments for ESA's far infrared and submillimeter observatory Herschel. It employs two Ge:Ga photoconductor arrays (stressed and unstressed) with 16 × 25 pixels, each, and two filled silicon bolometer arrays with 16 × 32 and 32 × 64 pixels, respectively, to perform imaging line spectroscopy and imaging photometry in the 60 - 210μm wavelength band. In photometry mode, it will simultaneously image two bands, 60 - 85μm or 85 - 125μm and 125 - 210μm, over a field of view of ~ 1.75' × 3.5', with close to Nyquist beam sampling in each band. In spectroscopy mode, it will image a field of ~ 50" × 50", resolved into 5 × 5 pixels, with an instantaneous spectral coverage of ~ 1500 km/s and a spectral resolution of ~ 175 km/s. In both modes the performance is expected to be not far from background-noise limited, with sensitivities (5σ in 1h) of ~ 4 mJy or 3 - 20 × 10^-18W/m², respectively. We summarize the design of the instrument, describe the observing modes in combination with the telescope pointing modes, report results from instrument level performance tests and calibration of the Flight Model, and present our current prediction of the in-orbit performance of the instrument based on the ground tests.