Related papers: On-sky speckle nulling demonstration at small angu…
Quasi-static speckles are a current limitation to faint companion imaging of bright stars. Here we show through simulation and theory that an adaptive pupil mask can be used to reduce these speckles and increase the visibility of faint…
nEXO is a proposed tonne-scale neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) experiment using liquid ${}^{136}Xe$ (LXe) in a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) to read out ionization and scintillation signals. Between the field cage and the…
This paper describes the aims, objectives and first results of the observational program for the study of distant core-collapse supernovae (SNe) with redshifts z < 0.3. This work is done within the framework of an international cooperation…
We observed the low-mass X-ray binary Sco X-1 for 12 nights simultaneously using the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer and the Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory at 1 second time resolution. This is among the most comprehensive…
The development of spaceborne coronagraphic technology is of paramount importance to the detection of habitable exoplanets in visible light. In space, coronagraphs are able to bypass the limitations imposed by the atmosphere to reach deeper…
SPHERE, operating at the VLT since 2014, is currently one of the high-contrast instruments with a higher performance. Its adaptive optics system, known as SAXO, will be upgraded to SAXO+, which features the addition of a second stage of…
Vortex fiber nulling is a method for spectroscopically characterizing exoplanets at small angular separations, $\lesssim\lambda/D$, from their host star. The starlight is suppressed by creating an optical vortex in the system point spread…
FIRSTv2 (Fibered Imager foR a Single Telescope version 2) is the upgrade of a post-AO spectro-interferometer (FIRST) that enables high contrast imaging and spectroscopy at spatial scales below the diffraction limit of a single telescope.…
[Abridged] Context. Spectral differential imaging (SDI) is part of the observing strategy of current and future high-contrast imaging instruments. It aims to reduce the stellar speckles that prevent the detection of cool planets by using…
Resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSXS) is a powerful technique for probing both spatial and electronic structures within solid-state systems. We present a newly developed RSXS capability at beamline 13-3 of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation…
Ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive-optics (AO) systems and specialized science cameras are now capable of directly detecting extrasolar planets. We present the expected scientific capabilities of CHARIS, the Coronagraphic High…
Santa Cruz Array of Lenslets for Exoplanet Spectroscopy (SCALES) is an instrument being designed for direct imaging of exoplanets in the infrared with the Adaptive Optics System of the W.M. Keck Observatory. The performance of SCALES will…
The development of adaptive optics (AO) played a major role in modern astronomy over the last three decades. By compensating for the atmospheric turbulence, these systems enable to reach the diffraction limit on large telescopes. In this…
Reaching the high angular resolution and contrast level desired for exoplanetary science requires us to equip large telescopes with extreme adaptive optics (XAO) systems to compensate for the effect of the atmospheric turbulence at a very…
The dark-speckle method (Labeyrie 1995) combines features of speckle interferometry and adaptive optics to provide images of faint circumstellar material. We present preliminary results of observations, and simulations concluding to the…
Observing sequences have shown that the major noise source limitation in high-contrast imaging is due to the presence of quasi-static speckles. The timescale on which quasi-static speckles evolve, is determined by various factors, among…
In the last few years, new Adaptive Optics [AO] techniques have emerged to answer new astronomical challenges: Ground-Layer AO [GLAO] and Multi-Conjugate AO [MCAO] to access a wider Field of View [FoV], Multi-Object AO [MOAO] for the…
Observations of interstellar clouds that cast shadows in the soft X-ray background can be used to separate the background Galactic halo emission from the local emission due to solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) and/or the Local Bubble (LB).…
Angular differential imaging (ADI) (Marois et al. 2006) is an observational technique in high contrast imaging where the telescope is used in pupil tracking mode so that the image of the sky rotates with respect to the optical surfaces.…
While the potential of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) to measure solar neutrinos is known, realizing this potential requires new techniques to reduce detector backgrounds. One of the most serious backgrounds is due to…