Related papers: Dark zone maintenance results for segmented apertu…
Images obtained by drift-scanning with a stationary telescope are affected by the declination-dependent curvature of star trails. The image displacement to curvature and drift rate variation increases with the angular field of view and can…
In the context of exoplanet detection, the performance of coronagraphs is limited by wavefront errors. To efficiently correct for these aberrations with a deformable mirror, it is mandatory to measure them using the science detector with a…
Context. Direct imaging of exoplanets takes advantage of state-of-the-art adaptive optics (AO) systems, coronagraphy, and post-processing techniques. Coronagraphs attenuate starlight to mitigate the unfavorable flux ratio between an…
We discuss the results of a multi-wavelength differential imaging lab experiment with the High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The HCIT combines a Lyot coronagraph with a Xinetics deformable mirror in a…
We performed an experimental verification of a coronagraph. As a result, we confirmed that, at the focal region where the planetary point spread function exists, the coronagraph system mitigates the raw contrast of a star-planet system by…
High-contrast imaging from space must overcome two major noise sources to successfully detect a terrestrial planet angularly close to its parent star: photon noise from diffracted star light, and speckle noise from star light scattered by…
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…
The EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer (EXCEDE) science mission concept uses a visible-wavelength Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph to enable high-contrast imaging of circumstellar debris systems…
All coronagraphic instruments for exoplanet high-contrast imaging need wavefront correction systems to reject optical aberrations and create sufficiently dark holes. Since the most efficient wavefront correction algorithms (controllers and…
In direct imaging of exoplanets from space, achieving the required dynamic range (i.e., planet-to-star contrast in brightness) currently relies on coronagraphic technology combined with active control of one or more deformable mirrors (DMs)…
High contrast imaging and spectroscopy provide unique constraints for exoplanet formation models as well as for planetary atmosphere models. But this can be challenging because of the planet-to-star small angular separation and high flux…
The continual push to directly image exoplanets at lower masses and closer separations orbiting around bright stars remains limited by both quasi-static and residual adaptive optics (AO) aberration. In previous papers we have proposed a…
Aero-optical beam control relies on the development of low-latency forecasting techniques to quickly predict wavefronts aberrated by the Turbulent Boundary Layer (TBL) around an airborne optical system, and its study applies to a…
We describe the Zurich Imaging Polarimeter (ZIMPOL), the visual focal plane subsystem of the SPHERE "VLT planet finder", which pushes the limits of current AO systems to shorter wavelengths, higher spatial resolution, and much improved…
Residual wavefront errors in optical elements limit the performance of coronagraphs. To improve their efficiency, different types of devices have been proposed to correct or calibrate these errors. In this paper, we study one of these…
In the field of planet and proto-planetary disk detection, achieving high angular resolution and high dynamic range is a necessity. Coronography coupled with adaptive optics on Hubble Space Telescope is a way to get both good spatial…
We recently started to investigate how liquid-crystal on silicon (LCOS) spatial light modulator (SLM) would perform as programmable focal-plane phase mask (FPM) coronagraphs. Such "adaptive coronagraphs" could potentially help adapt to…
This paper introduces an analytical method to calculate segment-level wavefront error tolerances in order to enable the detection of faint extra-solar planets using segmented telescopes in space. This study provides a full treatment of…
Small-angle coronagraphy is technically and scientifically appealing because it enables the use of smaller telescopes, allows covering wider wavelength ranges, and potentially increases the yield and completeness of circumstellar…
We present a promising approach to the extremely fast sensing and correction of small wavefront errors in adaptive optics systems. As our algorithm's computational complexity is roughly proportional to the number of actuators, it is…