Poisson_CCD: A dedicated simulator for modeling CCDs

Understand

A dedicated simulator, Poisson_CCD, has been constructed which models astronomical CCDs by solving Poisson's equation numerically and simulating charge transport within the CCD.

• The potentials and free carrier densities within the CCD are self-consistently solved for, giving realistic results for the charge distribution within the CCD storage wells.
• The simulator has been used to model the CCDs which are being used to construct the LSST digital camera.
• The simulator output has been validated by comparing its predictions with several different types of CCD measurements, including astrometric shifts, brighter-fatter induced pixel-pixel covariances, saturation effects, and diffusion spreading.