Related papers: Lyot-based Low Order Wavefront Sensor: Implementat…

The use of artificial Laser Guide Stars (LGS) is planned for the new generation of giant segmented mirror telescopes, to extend the sky coverage of their adaptive optics systems. The LGS, being a 3D object at a finite distance will have a…

The current generation of ground-based coronagraphic instruments uses deformable mirrors to correct for phase errors and to improve contrast levels at small angular separations. Improving these techniques, several space and ground based…

Laser Guide Star (LGS) Shack-Hartmann (SH) wavefront sensors for next generation Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) require low-noise, large format (about 1Mpx), fast detectors to match the need for a large number of subapertures and a good…

We present a concept of a millimeter wavefront sensor that allows real-time sensing of the surface of a ground-based millimeter/submillimeter telescope. It is becoming important for ground-based millimeter/submillimeter astronomy to make…

Direct detection of exoplanets requires high dynamic range imaging. Coronagraphs could be the solution, but their performance in space is limited by wavefront errors (manufacturing errors on optics, temperature variations, etc.), which…

Vortex coronagraphs have been shown to be a promising avenue for high-contrast imaging in the close-in environment of stars at thermal infrared (IR) wavelengths. They are included in the baseline design of METIS. To ensure good performance…

Deep sub-diffraction exoplanet discovery currently lies beyond the reach of state-of-the-art direct imaging coronagraphs, which typically have an inner working angle larger than the diffraction scale. We present an experimental…

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…

Oncoming exoplanet spectro-imagers like the Planetary Camera and Spectrograph (PCS) for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will aim for a new class of exoplanets, including Earth-like planets evolving around M dwarfs i.e., closer than…

Optical observations of solar corona provide key information on its magnetic geometry. The large-scale open field of the corona plays an important role in shaping the ambient solar wind and constraining the propagation dynamics of the…

Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors (SHWS) are generally used to measure the wavefront curvature of light beams. Measurement accuracy and the sensitivity of these sensors are important factors for better wavefront sensing. In this study, we…

We discuss the use of parametric phase-diverse phase retrieval as an in-situ high-fidelity wavefront measurement method to characterize and optimize the transmitted wavefront of a high-contrast coronagraphic instrument. We apply our method…

Recent developments in high-contrast imaging techniques now make possible both imaging and spectroscopy of planets around nearby stars. We present the conceptual design of the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph…

The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument is an extremely modular high-contrast instrument installed on the Subaru telescope in Hawaii. SCExAO has a dual purpose. Its position in the northern hemisphere on a…

Coronagraphic techniques are required to detect exoplanets with future Extremely Large Telescopes. One concept, the Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph (APLC), is combining an apodizer in the entrance aperture and a Lyot opaque mask in the…

Low wind and petaling effects, caused by the discontinuous apertures of telescopes, are poorly corrected -- if at all -- by commonly used workhorse wavefront sensors (WFSs). Wavefront petaling breaks the coherence of the point spread…

The number of terrestrial exoplanets accessible to high-contrast coronagraphic imaging with large telescopes is limited by the smallest angular offset from bright stars at which coronagraphs can observe. However, it is possible to reach…

We describe the current performance of the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument on the Subaru telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii and present early science results for SCExAO coupled with the CHARIS integral field…

Wave front sensing of the surface of equal phase for a propagating electromagnetic wave is a vital technology in fields ranging from real time adaptive optics, to high accuracy metrology, to medical optometry. We have developed a new method…

This paper describes the wave-front correction and image stabilisation system (CWS) developed for the Sunrise III balloon-borne telescope, and provides information about its performance as measured during the integration into the telescope…