Ground-based direct imaging of exoplanets at high contrast requires precise correction of atmospheric turbulence using adaptive optics (AO). The planet-to-star contrast ratio at small angular separations from the host star is often limited by non-common-path aberrations (NCPAs) seen only in the science plane. The photonic lantern (PL) can be used to sense aberrations at the final science imaging plane. This enables a two-stage wavefront control architecture, in which the first-stage wavefront sensor senses atmospheric turbulence and the PL senses NCPAs and other aberrations not seen by the first stage. We demonstrate closed-loop control of residual wavefront errors using a non-dispersed PL after first-stage AO correction on the Shane 3m telescope at Lick Observatory. Our results show that non-dispersed PLs can be used for second-stage wavefront sensing, enabling performance improvements via minimally invasive retrofits to existing AO systems.
@article{arxiv.2511.20560,
title = {On-sky demonstration of second-stage wavefront control with a photonic lantern},
author = {Aditya R. Sengupta and Jordan Diaz and Matthew DeMartino and Rebecca Jensen-Clem and Sylvain Cetre and Elinor Gates and Kevin Bundy and Daren Dillon and Philip Hinz and Maïssa Salama and Nour Skaf and Olivier Guyon and Tara Crowe and Caleb Dobias and Stephen S. Eikenberry and Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa and Stephanos Yerolatsitis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.20560},
year = {2025}
}