Evaluating detector requirements for the next UV/O/IR flagship observatory

The next UV/O/IR flagship observatory mission recommended by the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics requires detector performance beyond what many devices deliver; i.e., lower dark current, lower read noise, higher QE, photon counting capability, etc. We evaluate how detector performance parameters affect the ability of an instrument to satisfy the science goals described in the LUVOIR concept study. We compare the requirements to performance in relevant metrics for current state-of-the-art devices. Current UV/O devices (specifically photon-counting CMOS ones) already perform at a level that meet most of the requirements of the upcoming flagship mission. We find that CMOS devices provide performance characteristics that exceed the requirements and exist in formats that demonstrate scalability beyond tens of mega-pixels. EMCCDs have demonstrated scalability to this size as well, though the excess noise factor introduced by the gain mechanism presents significant issues. MKIDs can resolve photon energy, but have yet to demonstrate scalability to mega-pixel formats. SNSPDs do not currently have readout architectures beyond the kilo-pixel level.