Radiation damage effects in space-borne CCD detectors operated in TDI mode

Abstract

We evaluate the astrometric and photometric implications of a series of laboratory tests conducted to study the effects of radiation damage caused by solar protons in space-borne charge coupled devices (CCDs). The photometric effects, i.e., charge loss (CL) and the astrometric effects, i.e., location biases, associated with the radiation-induced distortion on the sampled line spread function (LSF), are assessed via a Gaussian fitting model. Data reduction is supported by a detailed analysis of the experimental setup. Charge loss and centroid shift variations are evaluated as functions of the simulated star brightness and the level of diffuse optical background to derive useful hints for modeling and calibration of the radiation damaged LSF during actual payload operations in orbit.