The Kitt Peak Electron Multiplying CCD demonstrator
Abstract
The Kitt Peak Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) demonstrator is a new instrument that has been developed for use at the Kitt Peak National Observatory's 84-inch telescope. The EMCCD enables single-band optical imaging in the Sloan g and r bands and Johnson UVRI filters. The EMCCD is chosen for its sub-electron effective read noise using large multiplicative gains. As a result, frame rates of greater than 1\,Hz are possible. The field-of-view is 4.4 × 4.4 and the pixel size is 0.259. This camera, coupled with a fully roboticized telescope, is ideal for follow-up of short period, white dwarf binary candidates, as well as short duration transient and periodic sources identified by large field-of-view all-sky surveys such as the Zwicky Transient Facility.