Euclid

IV. The NISP Calibration Unit

¹ Felix Hormuth Engineering, Goethestr. 17, 69181 Leimen, Germany
² Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
³ von Hoerner & Sulger GmbH, Schlossplatz 8, 68723 Schwetzingen, Germany
⁴ European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), Eumetsat Allee 1, 64295 Darmstadt, Germany
⁵ Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, IP2I Lyon, UMR 5822, Villeurbanne 69100, France
⁶ Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France
⁷ Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstr. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
⁸ Universitäts-Sternwarte München, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Scheinerstrasse 1, 81679 München, Germany
⁹ Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, Tycho House, 20 Stephenson Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford GU2 7YE, UK
¹⁰ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
¹¹ Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LPSC-IN2P3, 53, Avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France
¹² Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, CNES, LAM, Marseille, France
¹³ INAF-Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Piero Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁴ Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Departamento de Electrónica y Tecnología de Computadoras, Plaza del Hospital 1, 30202 Cartagena, Spain
¹⁵ Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA
¹⁶ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC); Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
¹⁷ School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK
¹⁸ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via Brera 28, 20122 Milano, Italy
¹⁹ SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies, Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, TS, Italy
²⁰ INAF –Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G. B. Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
²¹ INFN, Sezione di Trieste, Via Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste, TS, Italy
²² IFPU, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, via Beirut 2, 34151 Trieste, Italy
²³ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
²⁴ INFN-Sezione di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
²⁵ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Via dell’Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
²⁶ INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Via Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
²⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genova, Italy
²⁸ INFN-Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genova, Italy
²⁹ Department of Physics “E. Pancini”, University Federico II, Via Cinthia 6, 80126 Napoli, Italy
³⁰ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
³¹ INFN section of Naples, Via Cinthia 6, 80126 Napoli, Italy
³² Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, CAUP, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal
³³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
³⁴ INFN-Sezione di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
³⁵ INAF-IASF Milano, Via Alfonso Corti 12, 20133 Milano, Italy
³⁶ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Via Frascati 33, 00078 Monteporzio Catone, Italy
³⁷ INFN-Sezione di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Edificio G. Marconi, 00185 Roma, Italy
³⁸ Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Avenida Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain
³⁹ Port d’Informació Científica, Campus UAB, C. Albareda s/n, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
⁴⁰ Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), Edifici RDIT, Campus UPC, 08860 Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain
⁴¹ Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC), Campus UAB, Carrer de Can Magrans, s/n, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
⁴² Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology (TTK), RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany
⁴³ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Augusto Righi” – Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
⁴⁴ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Calle Vía Láctea s/n, 38204, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁴⁵ Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁴⁶ Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
⁴⁷ European Space Agency/ESRIN, Largo Galileo Galilei 1, 00044 Frascati, Roma, Italy
⁴⁸ ESAC/ESA, Camino Bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urb. Villafranca del Castillo, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
⁴⁹ Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
⁵⁰ UCB Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, IUF, IP2I Lyon, 4 rue Enrico Fermi, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
⁵¹ Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Edifício C8, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
⁵² Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
⁵³ Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, ch. d’Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
⁵⁴ Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Institut d’astrophysique spatiale, 91405 Orsay, France
⁵⁵ INFN-Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁵⁶ INAF – Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, 00100 Roma, Italy
⁵⁷ Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁵⁸ Space Science Data Center, Italian Space Agency, via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁵⁹ School of Physics, HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
⁶⁰ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, Via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna, Italy
⁶¹ Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
⁶² Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, PO Box 1029 Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway
⁶³ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands
⁶⁴ Department of Physics, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, UK
⁶⁵ Technical University of Denmark, Elektrovej 327, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
⁶⁶ Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Denmark
⁶⁷ Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, CNRS, and Sorbonne Université, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
⁶⁸ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
⁶⁹ Department of Physics and Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
⁷⁰ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
⁷¹ Université de Genève, Département de Physique Théorique and Centre for Astroparticle Physics, 24 quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland
⁷² Department of Physics, PO Box 64, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
⁷³ Helsinki Institute of Physics, Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
⁷⁴ NOVA optical infrared instrumentation group at ASTRON, Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991PD, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
⁷⁵ Centre de Calcul de l’IN2P3/CNRS, 21 avenue Pierre de Coubertin 69627 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
⁷⁶ University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Northwestern Switzerland, School of Engineering, 5210 Windisch, Switzerland
⁷⁷ Universität Bonn, Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
⁷⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Augusto Righi” – Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, via Piero Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁷⁹ Department of Physics, Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University, South Road DH1 3LE, UK
⁸⁰ Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Bd de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice cedex 4, France
⁸¹ Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Astroparticule et Cosmologie, 75013 Paris, France
⁸² Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
⁸³ California institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁸⁴ Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
⁸⁵ European Space Agency/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
⁸⁶ School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University, Herschel Building, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
⁸⁷ Department of Physics, Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, DH1 3LE, UK
⁸⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
⁸⁹ Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
⁹⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
⁹¹ Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada
⁹² Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales – Centre spatial de Toulouse, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
⁹³ Institute of Space Science, Str. Atomistilor, nr. 409 M˘agurele, Ilfov, 077125, Romania
⁹⁴ Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
⁹⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “G. Galilei”, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
⁹⁶ Caltech/IPAC, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁹⁷ Institut für Theoretische Physik, University of Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
⁹⁸ Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 14 Av. Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
⁹⁹ Université St Joseph; Faculty of Sciences, Beirut, Lebanon
¹⁰⁰ Departamento de Física, FCFM, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago, Chile
¹⁰¹ Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Astro- und Teilchenphysik, Technikerstr. 25/8, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
¹⁰² Satlantis, University Science Park, Sede Bld 48940, Leioa-Bilbao, Spain
¹⁰³ Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
¹⁰⁴ Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018 Lisboa, Portugal
¹⁰⁵ INFN-Bologna, Via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna, Italy
¹⁰⁶ INAF, Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via Piero Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹⁰⁷ Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley (OAVdA), Loc. Lignan 39, 11020, Nus (Aosta Valley), Italy
¹⁰⁸ Center For Advanced Mathematical Sciences, American University of Beirut PO Box 11-0236, Riad El-Solh, Beirut 11097 2020, Lebanon
¹⁰⁹ Junia, EPA department, 41 Bd Vauban, 59800 Lille, France
¹¹⁰ ICSC – Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in High Performance Computing, Big Data e Quantum Computing, Via Magnanelli 2, Bologna, Italy
¹¹¹ Instituto de Física Teórica UAM-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
¹¹² CERCA/ISO, Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
¹¹³ Laboratoire Univers et Théorie, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Université Paris Cité, CNRS, 92190 Meudon, France
¹¹⁴ IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
¹¹⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Via Giuseppe Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
¹¹⁶ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara, Via Giuseppe Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
¹¹⁷ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, 67000 Strasbourg, France
¹¹⁸ Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
¹¹⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica – Sezione di Astronomia, Università di Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, 34131 Trieste, Italy
¹²⁰ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
¹²¹ Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA
¹²² Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
¹²³ Institute Lorentz, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹²⁴ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
¹²⁵ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California Irvine, Irvine CA 92697, USA
¹²⁶ Department of Astronomy & Physics and Institute for Computational Astrophysics, Saint Mary’s University, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3, Canada
¹²⁷ Departamento Física Aplicada, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Campus Muralla del Mar, 30202 Cartagena, Murcia, Spain
¹²⁸ Department of Physics, Oxford University, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
¹²⁹ Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3FX, UK
¹³⁰ Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, PO Box 15400, Espoo 00 076, Finland
¹³¹ Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Astronomical Institute (AIRUB), German Centre for Cosmological Lensing (GCCL), 44780 Bochum, Germany
¹³² DARK, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 155, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
¹³³ Université PSL, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, LERMA, 75014, Paris, France
¹³⁴ Université Paris-Cité, 5 Rue Thomas Mann, 75013 Paris, France
¹³⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vesilinnantie 5, 20014 University of Turku, Finland
¹³⁶ Serco for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
¹³⁷ ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics, Melbourne, Australia
¹³⁸ Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia
¹³⁹ School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
¹⁴⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town 7535, South Africa
¹⁴¹ ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research, Instituto de Física Teórica, Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil
¹⁴² Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden
¹⁴³ Astrophysics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
¹⁴⁴ INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
¹⁴⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy
¹⁴⁶ Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal
¹⁴⁷ HE Space for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain
¹⁴⁸ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
¹⁴⁹ Department of Astrophysics, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
¹⁵⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli studi di Genova, and INFNSezione di Genova, via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy
¹⁵¹ Theoretical astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 515, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
¹⁵² ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Postbus 2, 7990 AA, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
¹⁵³ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
¹⁵⁴ Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 94249, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
¹⁵⁵ Department of Physics, Royal Holloway, University of London, TW20 0EX, UK
¹⁵⁶ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Peyton Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
¹⁵⁷ Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 128, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
¹⁵⁸ Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
¹⁵⁹ Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, 162 5th Avenue, 10010, New York, NY, USA
¹⁶⁰ INFN-Sezione di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
¹⁶¹ Departamento de Física Fundamental. Universidad de Salamanca. Plaza de la Merced s/n, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
¹⁶² Thales Services S.A.S., 290 Allée du Lac, 31670 Labège, France
¹⁶³ Observatorio Nacional, Rua General Jose Cristino, 77-Bairro Imperial de Sao Cristovao, Rio de Janeiro 20921-400, Brazil
¹⁶⁴ Center for Frontier Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
¹⁶⁵ Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-Cho, Inage-Ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan
¹⁶⁶ Institut de Physique Théorique, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
¹⁶⁷ Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, 9000 Gent, Belgium
¹⁶⁸ Aurora Technology for European Space Agency (ESA), Camino bajo del Castillo, s/n, Urbanizacion Villafranca del Castillo, Villanueva de la Cañada, 28692 Madrid, Spain

^★ Corresponding author; jahnke@mpia.de

Received: 12 April 2024
Accepted: 23 June 2024

Abstract

The near-infrared calibration unit (NI-CU) on board Euclid’s Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) is the first astronomical calibration lamp based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to be operated in space. Euclid is a mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 framework to explore the dark universe and provide a next-level characterisation of the nature of gravitation, dark matter, and dark energy. Calibrating photometric and spectrometric measurements of galaxies to better than 1.5% accuracy in a survey homogeneously mapping ~14 000 deg² of extragalactic sky requires a very detailed characterisation of near-infrared (NIR) detector properties as well as constant monitoring of them in flight. To cover two of the main contributions – relative pixel-to-pixel sensitivity and non-linearity characteristics – and to support other calibration activities, NI-CU was designed to provide spatially approximately homogeneous (<12% variations) and temporally stable illumination (0.1–0.2% over 1200 s) over the NISP detector plane with minimal power consumption and energy dissipation. NI-CU covers the spectral range ~[900,I900] nm – at cryo-operating temperature – at five fixed independent wavelengths to capture wavelength-dependent behaviour of the detectors, with fluence over a dynamic range of ≳100 from ~15 ph s⁻¹ pixel⁻¹ to >1500 ph s⁻¹ pixel⁻¹. For this functionality, NI-CU is based on LEDs. We describe the rationale behind the decision and design process, the challenges in sourcing the right LEDs, and the qualification process and lessons learned. We also provide a description of the completed NI-CU, its capabilities, and performance as well as its limits. NI-CU has been integrated into NISP and the Euclid satellite, and since Euclid’s launch in July 2023, it has started supporting survey operations.