QC PLOTS
	CURRENT	HISTORY
read-noise and dark level HC setups
read noise and dark level frequent setups
eight-column noise
hot/cold pixels
QC1 database (advanced users): browse | plot
Click on CURRENT to see the current trending (Health Check).    Click on HISTORY to see the historical evolution of the trending.

A number of DARK frames is taken within the NACO daytime calibrations in case NACO science observations have been acquired in the night. Each DARK consists of 3 raw frames obtained with the instrumental setting matching the one used for science observations. The parameters matched are:

• DET.DIT - detector integration time
• DET.NDIT - number of sub-integrations
• INS.OPTI7.NAME - camera
• DET.NCORRS.NAME - detector read-out mode
• DET.MODE.NAME - detector mode

DARK frame - 0.5s, Double_RdRstRd, HighSensitivity This is an example of the master calibration DARK frame - NC_DCAL_0_5_S27_F_DRHS.fits. It is a pipeline product of the "naco_img_dark" recipe. The horizontal stripes on the edges of the detector are features characteristic to the Double_RdRstRd read-out mode.

DARK frame - 300s, FowlerNsamp, HighSensitivity This is an example of the master calibration DARK frame - NC_DCAL_300_S27_F_FSHS.fits. It is a pipeline product of the "naco_img_dark" recipe. The bright, diagonal stripes are associated with the "light leakage". They become prominent structures when darks are taken with long DITs.

In addition to the QC parameters calculated by the NACO dark pipeline recipe, several QC parameters are calculated by QC procedures. They all are stored in the NACO QC1 parameter database.

The NACO detetcor can be operated in normal (DET.FRAM.TYPE=INT) and in cube mode (DET.FRAM.TYPE=CUBE2). In cube mode, the detector adds two more rows at the upper rim, that the read-out size is 1024x1026 pixel instead of the 1024x1024 pixel in normal read mode. Furthermore the detector can be operated in any used-defined window read out mode. The QC monitoring covers:

• normal mode (DET.FRAM.TYPE=INT), full readout (NAXIS1 x NAXIS2 = 10124 x 1024)
• the first layer of a cube (DET.FRAM.TYPE=CUBE2), full readout (NAXIS1 x NAXIS2 = 1024 x 1026)
• darks for M-band pre-defined 512 x 512 pixel window readout and 512 x 514 pixel winow (cube mode)

Other Window options other than 512 x 512 and 512 x 514 ore not pipeline supported and are not subject of QC checks.

The operationally most critical detector characteristics derived from dark calibration frames are monitored by the following four QC parameters:

QC1 parameters

The upper three boxes of the following plot show the temporal evolution of the read-out noise for three daily taken detector setups. The upper three boxes of the second plot shows the read-out noise of other frequently acquired detector setups: DoubleCorrelated HighDensity DIT=0.5, DoubleCorrelated HighDensity DIT=2.0 and Uncorr HighWellDepth DIT=2.0.

QC1 parameters

The upper three boxes of the following plot show the temporal evolution of the dark level for three daily taken detector setups. The upper three boxes of the second plot shows the dark level of other frequently acquired detector setups: DoubleCorrelated HighDensity DIT=0.5, DoubleCorrelated HighDensity DIT=2.0 and Uncorr HighWellDepth DIT=2.0.

The 8-column noise is a special feature of the NACO detector, which became dominant in Feb 2012, when the upper right 512x512 pixel detector quadrant showed an extra signal as repetitive pattern in every eightst column.

QC1 parameters

The health check plot shows the 8-pixel noise for all four (e.g. UR stands for upper right) 512x512 pixel detector quadrant as measuered in the DCR_HS_0.5 master dark.

QC1 parameters

The trending plot shows the number of the hot and cold pixels measured in the dark frames. The data points are separated by the detector read-out mode.