Related papers: Coronagraph-Integrated Wavefront Sensing with a Sp…
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…
Future Extremely Large Telescopes will adopt segmented primary mirrors with several hundreds of segments. Cophasing of the segments together is essential to reach high wavefront quality. The phasing sensor must be able to maintain very high…
Context: The detection and characterization of Earth-like exoplanets (exoEarths) from space requires exquisite wavefront stability at contrast levels of $10^{-10}$. On segmented telescopes in particular, aberrations induced by cophasing…
Sparse aperture masking interferometry (SAM) is a high resolution observing technique that allows for imaging at and beyond a telescope's diffraction limit. The technique is ideal for searching for stellar companions at small separations…
In recent years, phase mask coronagraphy has become increasingly efficient in imaging the close environment of stars, enabling the search for exoplanets and circumstellar disks. Coronagraphs are ideally suited instruments, characterized by…
The Santa Cruz Extreme AO Lab (SEAL) testbed is an optical bench meant to design and develop new wavefront control techniques for high-contrast imaging for segmented telescopes. These techniques allow for astronomical efficiency in…
State-of-the-art coronagraphs employed on extreme adaptive optics enabled instruments, are constantly improving the contrast detection limit for companions at ever closer separations to the host star. In order to constrain their properties…
We present the fabrication and experimental demonstration of three free-standing binary shaped pupil mask coronagraphs, which are applicable for telescopes with partially obscured pupils. Three masks, designed to be complementary (labeled…
The exploration of circumstellar environments by means of direct imaging to search for Earth-like exoplanets is one of the challenges of modern astronomy. One of the current limitations are evolving non-common path aberrations (NCPA) that…
Wavefront estimation using in-focus image data is critical to many applications. This data is invariant to a sign flip with complex conjugation of the complex amplitude in the pupil, making for a non-unique solution. Information from an…
To reach and maintain high contrast levels, coronagraph instruments will require a combination of low-order and high-order wavefront control techniques to correct for dynamic wavefront error. Efficient low-order wavefront sensing and…
The Habitable Worlds Observatory requires active speckle suppression to directly image Earth-like exoplanets. Focal plane wavefront sensing and control allows us to detect, and subsequently remove, time-varying speckles through measurements…
High-precision ground-based observations of the inner corona (1.05-2.0 R_sun) are fundamentally constrained by instrumental stray light, particularly the additive background from dynamic dust accumulation on the objective lens. To address…
Current scalar coronagraph focal plane mask designs are performance-limited by chromaticity. We investigate the effects of adding central Roddier and dual zone phase dimples to scalar vortex masks to improve broadband performance by…
High-contrast imaging in the next decade aims to image exoplanets at smaller angular separations and deeper contrasts than ever before. A problem that has recently garnered attention for telescopes equipped with high-contrast coronagraphs…
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…
Wavefront sensing and control (WFSC) will play a key role in improving the stability of future large segmented space telescopes while relaxing the thermo-mechanical constraints on the observatory structure. Coupled with a coronagraph to…
Achieving the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) goal of 10^-10 contrast at a separation of 3 $\lambda$/D across a 20% bandwidth requires coronagraph focal plane masks with both broadband high contrast performance and high planet…
Broadband coronagraphy with deep nulling and small inner working angle has the potential of delivering images and spectra of exoplanets and other faint objects. In recent years, many coronagraphic schemes have been proposed, the most…
Accurately predicting the performance of coronagraphs and tolerancing optical surfaces for high-contrast imaging requires a detailed accounting of diffraction effects. Unlike simple Fraunhofer diffraction modeling, near and far-field…