Related papers: A Coronagraph with a Sub-$\lambda/D$ IWA and a Mod…
To detect Earth-like planets in the visible with a coronagraphic telescope, two major noise sources have to be overcome: the photon noise of the diffracted star light, and the speckle noise due to the star light scattered by instrumental…
Imaging the planets that orbit around other stars requires blocking the host star which is usually 8-10 orders of magnitude brighter than the planets. This is achieved with the help of a stellar coronagraph. In the current work, a concept…
Future instruments need efficient coronagraphs over large spectral ranges to enable broadband imaging or spectral characterization of exoplanets 1e8 fainter than their star. Several solutions were proposed. Pupil apodizers can attenuate the…
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) will be the first high-performance stellar coronagraph using active wavefront control for deep starlight suppression in space, providing unprecedented levels of…
Uncorrected wavefront errors create speckle noise in high-contrast observations at small inner-working angles. These speckles can be sensed and controlled by using coronagraph integrated wavefront sensors. Here, we will present how the…
The specification of polishing requirements for the optics in coronagraphs dedicated to exo-planet detection requires careful and accurate optical modelling. Numerical representations of the propagation of aberrations through the system as…
We present the SPICA Coronagraphic Instrument (SCI), which has been designed for a concentrated study of extra-solar planets (exoplanets). SPICA mission provides us with a unique opportunity to make high contrast observations because of its…
The PIAA is a now well demonstrated high contrast technique that uses an intermediate remapping of the pupil for high contrast coronagraphy (apodization), before restoring it to recover classical imaging capabilities. This paper presents…
We describe a new instrument that forms the core of a long-term high contrast imaging program at the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory. The primary scientific thrust is to obtain images and low-resolution spectroscopy of brown…
We report on the Achromatic Interfero Coronagraph, a focal imaging device which aims at rejecting the energy contribution of a point-like source set on-axis, so as to make detectable its angularly-close environment (applicable to stellar…
We present recent laboratory results demonstrating high-contrast coronagraphy for the future space-based large IR/Optical/Ultraviolet telescope recommended by the Decadal Survey. The High-contrast Imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes…
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…
High contrast imaging using coronagraphy is one of the main avenues to enable the search for life on extrasolar Earth analogs. The HiCAT testbed aims to demonstrate coronagraphy and wavefront control for segmented on-axis space telescopes…
The direct detection of extrasolar planets by imaging means is limited by the large flux of light from the host star being scattered into the region of interest by a variety of processes, including diffraction. Coronagraphs are devices that…
Observing Earth-like exoplanets orbiting within the habitable zone of Sun-like stars and studying their atmospheres in reflected starlight requires contrasts of $\sim1\mathrm{e}{-10}$ in the visible. At such high contrast, starlight…
Future large segmented space telescopes and their coronagraphic instruments are expected to provide the resolution and sensitivity to observe Earth-like planets with a 10^10 contrast ratio at less than 100 mas from their host star. Advanced…
We have reported previously on a new method we are developing for using image-based information to improve global coronal magnetic field models. In that work we presented early tests of the method which proved its capability to improve…
We describe a coronagraphic optic for use with CONICA at the VLT that provides suppression of diffraction from 1.8 to 7 lambda/D at 4.05 microns, an optimal wavelength for direct imaging of cool extrasolar planets. The optic is designed to…
Detection and characterization of exoplanets by direct imaging requires a coronagraph designed to deliver high contrast at small angular separation. To achieve this, an accurate control of low order aberrations, such as pointing and focus…
The coronagraph instrument on the WFIRST-AFTA mission study has two coronagraphic architectures, shaped pupil and hybrid Lyot, which may be interchanged for use in different observing scenarios. Each architecture relies on newly-developed…