  The Compact High Energy Camera (CHEC) is a camera-development project
involving UK, US, Japanese and Dutch institutes for the dual-mirror Small-Sized
Telescopes (SST-2M) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Two CHEC
prototypes, based on different photosensors are funded and will be assembled
and tested in the UK over the next ~18 months. CHEC is designed to record
flashes of Cherenkov light lasting from a few to a hundred nanoseconds, with
typical RMS image width and length of ~0.2 x 1.0 degrees, and has a 9 degree
field of view. The physical camera geometry is dictated by the telescope
optics: a curved focal surface with radius of curvature 1m and diameter ~35cm
is required. CHEC is designed to work with both the ASTRI and GATE SST-2M
telescope structures and will include an internal LED flasher system for
calibration. The first CHEC prototype will be based on multi-anode
photomultipliers (MAPMs) and the second on silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs or
MPPCs). The first prototype will soon be installed on the ASTRI SST-2M
prototype structure on Mt. Etna.
