NIRCam - Near Infrared Camera

The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) will be the primary JWST imager in the wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 microns. The NIRCam is required by many of the core science goals of JWST, including the detection of the early phases of star and galaxy formation, such as the first precursors to today's globular clusters; morphology and colors of galaxies at very high redshift in rest-frame optical wavelengths; detection of and light curves of distant supernovae; mapping dark matter via gravitational lensing; and the study of stellar populations in nearby galaxies.

The NIRCam design consists of two broad- and intermediate-band imaging modules, each with a 2.16 x 2.16 arcmin field of view. The modules will have a short and a long wavelength channel, taking images simultaneously with light split by a dichroic at about 2.35 micron. The short wavelength channels will be sampled at 4096 x 4096 pixels (0.0317 arcsec/pixel), the long wavelength channels by 2048 x 2048 pixels (0.0648 arcsec/pixel). The short and long wavelength arms are Nyquist sampled at 2 and 4 micron respectively. Coronagraphs will be available in both modules.

NIRCam will also be used for wave front sensing to assure perfect alignment and shape of the different primary mirror segments. Each imaging module has a pupil wheel with extra optics and pupil analyzers for wave front sensing. The wave front sensing capability is provided fully redundant in both imaging modules because the mission depends critically on its functionality.

The expected point-source sensitivity is ~3.5 nJy for wavelengths from 0.7 through 5 microns in a 100,000 second exposure at a signal-to-noise ratio of 10. All ten detectors arrays needed for NIRCam will be Rockwell Scientific HgCdTe 2k x 2k devices.

The NIRCam will be built by a team led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, with Principal Investigator Dr. Marcia Rieke. The industrial partner is Lockheed-Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, California.

For more details about NIRCam, go to the NIRCam website at the University of Arizona.