Abstract-Charge-coupled devices (CCD's) have been fabricated on high-resistivity, n-type silicon. The resistivity, on the order of 10,000 Ω-cm, allows for depletion depths of several hundred microns. Fully-depleted, back-illuminated operation is achieved by the application of a bias voltage to a ohmic contact on the wafer back side consisting of a thin in-situ doped polycrystalline silicon layer capped by indium tin oxide and silicon dioxide. This thin contact allows for good short wavelength response, while the relatively large depleted thickness results in good near-infrared response.

No abstract

No abstract

The Automated Planet Finder (APF) is a facility purpose-built for the discovery and characterization of extrasolar planets through high cadence Doppler velocimetry of the reflex barycentric accelerations of their host stars. Located atop Mt. Hamilton, the APF facility consists of a 2.4-m telescope and its Levy Spectrometer, an optical echelle spectrometer optimized for precision Doppler velocimetry. APF features a fixed format spectral range from 374 nm -970 nm, and delivers a "Throughput" (resolution * slit width product) of 114,000 arc-seconds, with spectral resolutions up to 150,000.Overall system efficiency (fraction of photons incident on the primary mirror that are detected by the science CCD) on blaze at 560 nm in planet-hunting mode is 15%. Firstlight tests on the RV standard stars HD 185144 and HD 9407 demonstrate sub-m s −1 precision (RMS per observation) held over a 3-month period. This paper reviews the basic features of the telescope, dome, and spectrometer, and gives a brief summary of first-light performance.

No abstract