StarDICE: I. Sensor calibration bench and absolute photometric calibration of a Sony IMX411 sensor

Abstract

Context. The Hubble diagram of type-Ia supernovae (SNe-Ia) provides cosmological constraints on the nature of dark energy with an accuracy limited by the flux calibration of currently available spectrophotometric standards. This motivates new developments to improve the link between existing astrophysical flux standards and laboratory standards. Aims. The StarDICE experiment aims to establish a five-stage metrology chain from NIST photodiodes to stars, with a targeted accuracy of 1 mmag in griz colors. We present the first two stages, resulting in the calibration transfer from NIST photodiodes to a demonstration 150 mpixel CMOS sensor (Sony IMX411ALR as implemented in the QHY411M camera by QHYCCD). As a side-product, we provide full characterization of this camera, which we believe to be of potential interest in astronomical imaging and photometry and specifically discuss its use in the context of gravitational wave optical follow-up. Methods. A fully automated spectrophotometric bench was built to perform the calibration transfer. The sensor readout electronics was studied using thousands of flat-field images from which we derived stability, high-resolution photon transfer curves (PTC), and estimates of the individual pixel gain. The sensor quantum efficiency (QE) was then measured relatively to a NIST-calibrated photodiode, in a well-defined monochromatic light beam from 375 to 1078 nm. Last, flat-field scans at 16 different wavelengths were used to build maps of the sensor response, fully characterizing the sensor for absolute photometric measurements. Results. We demonstrated statistical uncertainty on QE below 0.001 e/? between 387 nm and 950 nm, the range being limited by the sensitivity decline of the tested sensor in the infrared. Systematic uncertainties in the bench optics are controlled at the level of 1 - 103 e/?. Linearity issues are detected at the level of 5 - 103 e/? for the tested camera and require further developments to fully correct. Uncertainty in the overall normalization of the QE curve (without relevance for the cosmology, but relevant to evaluate the performance of the camera itself) is 1%. Regarding the camera we demonstrate stability in steady state conditions at the level of 32.5 ppm. Homogeneity in the response is below 1% RMS across the entire sensor area. Quantum efficiency stays above 50% in most of the visible range, peaking well above 80% between 440 nm and 570 nm. Differential nonlinearities at the level of 1% are detected. A simple two-parameter model is proposed to mitigate the effect and found to adequately correct the shape of the PTC on half the numerical scale. No significant deviations from integral linearity were detected in our limited test. Static and dynamical correlations between pixels are low, making the device likely suitable for galaxy shape measurements.