Special Seminar

Single-Electron Imaging with Skipper CCDs: Toward Next-Generation Astronomical Instrumentation

Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) are the workhorse focal plane technology of modern astronomy, yet in low-signal regimes their sensitivity is often limited by read noise of a few electrons. Skipper CCDs overcome this limitation through repeated, non-destructive sampling, achieving sub-electron read noise and allowing individual electrons to be resolved. In this talk, I will describe the development and operation of Skipper CCDs, beginning with their application in the SENSEI experiment, where single-electron sensitivity enables searches for low-mass dark matter. While SENSEI demonstrates their capabilities, extending Skipper CCDs to astronomy requires overcoming the tradeoff between noise and readout speed and validating their performance in realistic observing conditions. To address this, I will discuss the DarkNESS CubeSat mission, a pathfinder designed to demonstrate Skipper CCDs in space as a step toward future space-based instruments. Finally, I will present next-generation detector architectures, including SiSeRO and MAS CCDs, which maintain single-electron sensitivity while enabling faster readout for ground- and space-based astronomical observations. These developments offer a path toward low-noise measurements at practical readout speeds, providing new opportunities in faint-source imaging and spectroscopy.