We recently started to investigate how liquid-crystal on silicon (LCOS) spatial light modulator (SLM) would perform as programmable focal-plane phase mask (FPM) coronagraphs. Such "adaptive coronagraphs" could potentially help adapt to observing conditions, but also tackle specific science cases (e.g. binary stars). Active FPMs may play a role in the context of segmented telescope pupils, or to implement synchronous coherent differential imaging (CDI). We present a status update on this work, notably early broadband contrast performance results using our new Swiss Wideband Active Testbed for High-contrast imaging (SWATCHi) facility. Finally, we unveil the upcoming near-infrared PLACID instrument, the Programmable Liquid-crystal Adaptive Coronagraphic Imager for the 4-m DAG observatory in Turkey, with a first light planned for the end of the year 2022.
@article{arxiv.2102.03201,
title = {SLM-based Active Focal-Plane Coronagraphy: Status and future on-sky prospects},
author = {Jonas G. Kühn and Laurent Jolissaint and Audrey Bouxin and Polychronis Patapis},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.03201},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
9 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of SPIE "Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation" 2020