Related papers: MagAO-X: current status and plans for Phase II
Almost all current and future high-contrast imaging instruments will use a Pyramid wavefront sensor (PWFS) as a primary or secondary wavefront sensor. The main issue with the PWFS is its nonlinear response to large phase aberrations,…
Axion helioscopes search for solar axions by their conversion in x-rays in the presence of high magnetic fields. The use of low background x-ray detectors is an essential component contributing to the sensitivity of these searches. In this…
We present first results from a new exoplanet direct imaging survey being carried out with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics project (SCExAO) coupled to the CHARIS integral field spectrograph and assisted with Keck/NIRC2,…
The Cassiop\'ee project aims to develop the key technologies that will be used to deploy very high-performance Adaptive Optics for future ELTs. The ultimate challenge is to detect earth-like planets and characterize the composition of their…
One important frontier for astronomical adaptive optics (AO) involves methods such as Multi-Object AO and Multi-Conjugate AO that have the potential to give a significantly larger field of view than conventional AO techniques. A second key…
The International AXion Observatory (IAXO) will incorporate a new generation detector for axions, a hypothetical particle, which was postulated to solve one of the puzzles arising in the standard model of particle physics, namely the strong…
One of the primary goals of exoplanet science is to find and characterize habitable planets, and direct imaging will play a key role in this effort. Though imaging a true Earth analog is likely out of reach from the ground, the coming…
We report laboratory results of a coronagraphic test bench to assess the intensity reduction differences between a "Gaussian" tapered focal plane coronagraphic mask and a classical hard-edged "Top Hat" function mask at Extreme Adaptive…
The Multiconjugate adaptive Optic Relay For ELT Observations (MORFEO, formerly known as MAORY) is the adaptive optics (AO) module for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) aimed at providing a 1 arcmin corrected field to the Multi-AO Imaging…
We overview the current status of photometric analyses of images collected with Multi Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) at 8-10m class telescopes that operated, or are operating, on sky. Particular attention will be payed to resolved stellar…
Instrumentation techniques in the field of direct imaging of exoplanets have greatly advanced over the last two decades. Two of the four NASA-commissioned large concept studies involve a high-contrast instrument for the imaging and spectral…
The Cern Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) is in operation and taking data since 2003. The main objective of the CAST experiment is to search for a hypothetical pseudoscalar boson, the axion, which might be produced in the core of the sun. The…
The upcoming Roman Coronagraph will be the first high-contrast instrument in space capable of high-order wavefront sensing and control technologies, a critical technology demonstration for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO)…
Most known white dwarfs in multiple systems with main sequence stars have been discovered with M-type companions, because the white dwarf causes detectable UV excess and bluer colors than expected from a single M star. Surveys have shown…
The development of adaptive optics (AO) played a major role in modern astronomy over the last three decades. By compensating for the atmospheric turbulence, these systems enable to reach the diffraction limit on large telescopes. In this…
The MAgnetized Disk and Mirror Axion eXperiment (MADMAX) is a future experiment aiming to detect dark matter axions from the galactic halo by resonant conversion to photons in a strong magnetic field. It uses a novel concept based on a…
Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) is essential for increasing the corrected Field-of-View (FoV) in astronomical imaging and potentially for free-space optical communications, particularly for small-aperture, transportable systems. We…
We utilize the new Magellan adaptive optics system (MagAO) to image the binary proplyd LV 1 in the Orion Trapezium at H alpha. This is among the first AO results in visible wavelengths. The H alpha image clearly shows the ionization fronts,…
RISTRETTO is a visible high-resolution spectrograph fed by an extreme adaptive optics (XAO) system, to be proposed as a visitor instrument on ESO VLT. The main science goal of RISTRETTO is the detection and atmospheric characterization of…
The high-contrast coronagraph for direct imaging earth-like exoplanet at the visible needs a contrast of 10^(-10) at a small angular separation of 4 lambda/D or less. Here we report our recent laboratory experiment that is close to the…