Related papers: Laboratory comparison of coronagraphic concepts un…

Deformable mirrors (DMs) are a critical technology to enable coronagraphic direct imaging of exoplanets with current and planned ground - and space-based telescopes as well as future mission concepts that aim to image exoplanet types…

High-contrast imaging for the detection and characterization of exoplanets relies on the instrument's capability to block out the light of the host star. Some current post-processing methods for calibrating out the residual speckles use…

High-contrast imaging and spectroscopy provide unique constraints for exoplanet formation models as well as for planetary atmosphere models. Instrumentation techniques in this field have greatly improved over the last two decades, with the…

In this article, we present a simulator conceived for the conceptual study of an AO-fed high-contrast coronagraphic imager. The simulator implements physical optics: a complex disturbance (the electric field) is Fresnel-propagated through…

Detection and characterization of exoplanets by direct imaging requires a coronagraph designed to deliver high contrast at small angular separation. To achieve this, an accurate control of low order aberrations, such as pointing and focus…

Optical designs for astronomy involve implementation of active optics and adaptive optics from X-ray to the infrared. Developments and results of active optics methods for telescopes, spectrographs and coronagraph planet finders are…

The direct imaging and characterization of exoplanets requires extreme adaptive optics (XAO), achieving exquisite wavefront correction (upwards of 90$\%$ Strehl) over a narrow field of view (a few arcseconds). For these XAO systems the…

Adaptive optics is a technique mostly used on large telescopes. It turns out to be challenging for smaller telescopes (0.5~2m) due to the small isoplanatic angle, small subapertures and high correction speeds needed at visible wavelengths,…

We present a new instrument, the "Stellar Double Coronagraph" (SDC), a flexible coronagraphic platform. Designed for Palomar Observatory's 200" Hale telescope, its two focal and pupil planes allow for a number of different observing…

The Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) for NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will constitute a dramatic step forward for high-contrast imaging, integral field spectroscopy, and polarimetry of exoplanets and circumstellar disks,…

On 2008 January 10, the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) A and B spacecraft conducted a high time cadence study of the solar corona with the Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI) instruments with the aim of investigating…

The Evanescent Wave Coronagraph (EvWaCo) is an achromatic coronagraph mask with adjustable size over the spectral domain [600nm, 900nm] that will be installed at the Thai National Observatory. We present in this work the development of a…

The world's first ever ''adaptive stellar coronagraph'' facility will be the PLACID instrument, installed on Turkey's new national observatory 4-m DAG telescope. PLACID incorporates a customized spatial light modulator (SLM) acting as a…

Direct observation of extra-solar planets (exoplanets) is essential to understand how planetary systems were born, how they evolve, and ultimately, to identify biological signatures on these planets. However, the enormous contrast in flux…

First multi-conjugate adaptive-optical (MCAO) systems are currently being installed on solar telescopes. The aim of these systems is to increase the corrected field-of-view with respect to conventional adaptive optics. However, this first…

The ability to accurately predict the contrast achieved from high contrast imagers is important for efficient scheduling and quality control measures in modern observatories. We aim to consistently predict and measure the raw contrast…

The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) is the new near-infrared instrument at the VLT-UT4. ERIS replaces and extends the observational capabilities formerly provided by SINFONI and NACO: integral field spectroscopy at 1 -…

Direct imaging of Earth-like planets is one of the main science cases for the next generation of extremely large telescopes. This is very challenging due to the star-planet contrast that must be overcome. Most current high-contrast imaging…

Non-common path quasi-static and differential aberrations are one of the big hurdles of direct imaging for current and future high-contrast imaging instruments. They increase speckle and photon noise thus reducing the achievable contrast…

Over the last decade, the vector-apodizing phase plate (vAPP) coronagraph has been developed from concept to on-sky application in many high-contrast imaging systems on 8-m class telescopes. The vAPP is an geometric-phase patterned…