Related papers: High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescop…
The direct imaging and characterization of Earth-like planets is among the most sought-after prizes in contemporary astrophysics, however current optical instrumentation delivers insufficient dynamic range to overcome the vast contrast…
The development of high-contrast capabilities has long been recognized as one of the top priorities for the VLTI. As of today, the VLTI routinely achieves contrasts of a few 10$^{-3}$ in the near-infrared with PIONIER (H band) and GRAVITY…
Context. In the context of direct imaging of exoplanets, coronagraphs are commonly proposed to reach the required very high contrast levels. However, wavefront aberrations induce speckles in their focal plane and limit their performance.…
High-contrast imaging will be a challenge for future ELTs, because their vibrations create low-order aberrations - mostly tip/tilt - that reduce coronagraphic performances at 1.2 lambda/D and above. A Low-Order WaveFront Sensor (LOWFS) is…
For direct imaging of exoplanets, Scalar Vortex Coronagraphs (SVCs) are an attractive alternative to the popularly used Vector Vortex Coronagraphs (VVCs). This is primarily because they are able to induce the same phase ramp regardless of…
Precision wavefront control on future segmented-aperture space telescopes presents significant challenges, particularly in the context of high-contrast exoplanet direct imaging. We present a new wavefront control architecture that…
High-contrast adaptive optics imaging is a powerful technique to probe the architectures of planetary systems from the outside-in and survey the atmospheres of self-luminous giant planets. Direct imaging has rapidly matured over the past…
The challenges of high contrast imaging (HCI) for detecting exoplanets for both ground and space applications can be met with extreme adaptive optics (ExAO), a high-order adaptive optics system that performs wavefront sensing (WFS) and…
Near-future astronomical survey experiments, such as LSST, possess system requirements of unprecedented fidelity that span photometry, astrometry and shape transfer. Some of these requirements flow directly to the array of science imaging…
Spectroscopic observations are extremely important for determining the composition, structure, and surface gravity of exoplanetary atmospheres. High resolution spectroscopy of the planet itself has only been demonstrated a handful of times.…
The Wide-field Imaging Interferometry Testbed (WIIT) was designed to validate, experiment with, and refine the technique of wide field mosaic imaging for optical/IR interferometers. Here we offer motivation for WIIT, present the testbed…
The far-IR spectral window plays host to a wide range of both spectroscopic and photometric diagnostics with which to open the protoplanetary disks and exoplanet research to wavelengths completely blocked by the Earth's atmosphere. These…
Interferometric techniques such as aperture masking have the potential to enhance spatial resolution capabilities when imaging moderate-contrast sources with small angular size, such as close-in exoplanets and circumstellar disks around…
The physical characterization of exoplanets will require to take spectra at several orbital positions. For that purpose, a direct imaging capability is necessary. Direct imaging requires an efficient stellar suppression mechanism,…
High-contrast imaging observations of large angular diameter stars enable complementary science questions to be addressed compared to the baseline goals of proposed missions like the Terrestrial Planet Finder-Coronagraph, New World's…
Precision cosmology requires accurate galaxy redshifts, but next generation optical surveys will observe unprecedented numbers of resolved galaxies, placing strain on the amount of spectroscopic follow-up required. We show how useful…
In long adaptive optics corrected exposures, exoplanet detections are currently limited by speckle noise originating from the telescope and instrument optics, and it is expected that such noise will also limit future high-contrast imaging…
Direct detection and detailed characterization of exoplanets using extreme adaptive optics (ExAO) is a key science goal of future extremely large telescopes (ELTs). However, wavefront errors will limit the sensitivity of this endeavor.…
Over the past 4 decades, the exploration of planets beyond our solar system has yielded the discovery of over 5600 exoplanets orbiting different stars. Continuous advancements in instrumentation and cutting-edge techniques empower…
The 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics tasked future space observatories with the goal of detecting and characterizing a large sample of Earth-like exoplanets. To achieve this, these observatories will require coronagraphs…