SALTICAM's slot mode is a specialized, high-speed readout capability.  This section is intended ultimately to provide information at the wizard level (i.e. SALT Astronomer and SALT Operator level). 

For fastest time resolution, SALTICAM can operate in Slot Mode. If you are new to it, press here for a general description of how slot mode works.

For a description of known issues, please see the SALTICAM science support pages.

Here are some helpful operational hints in the light of the known problems:

• Try and get the target and comparison stars as close to the same row on the CCD as possible.
• As it shows in the next sub-section, the throughput profile is very sensitive to focus. So determine best focus before you go into slot mode and on the part of the field where your target and comparison stars lie (ideally it would be best to bring those into the centre of the science field, have them in amplifiers 2 and 3 and as close to the gap between the chips as possible).
• The focus gradient runs, with rho = 0, from position angle 150 to 330 (i.e. 5 pm to 11 pm on the clock). So if you can manage to get your target and comparison stars in the slot when rho = 0, the focus gradient will have least impact. If you can't do this, focus the telescope for half way between the target and best suitable comparison star.
• If the target star is not too faint (and in deeply eclipsing close binaries it might be), profile fitting is not particularly advantageous compared to aperture photometry. In such a case, a small defocus of the telescope in the sense of bringing the focus above the CCDs and towards the slot will improve the throughput profile. So I'd suggest a tweak from best focus of -0.05 mm of tracker movement.