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High contrast imaging is the primary path to the direct detection and characterization of Earth-like planets around solar-type stars; a cleverly designed internal coronagraph suppresses the light from the star, revealing the elusive…
We propose a voxel-based optimization framework, ReVoRF, for few-shot radiance fields that strategically address the unreliability in pseudo novel view synthesis. Our method pivots on the insight that relative depth relationships within…
Refraction deflects photons that pass through atmospheres, which affects transit light curves. Refraction thus provides an avenue to probe physical properties of exoplanet atmospheres and to constrain the presence of clouds and hazes. In…
Context. A defining characteristic of active galactic nuclei (AGN) that distinguishes them from other astronomical sources is their stochastic variability, which is observable across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Upcoming optical…
We introduce an observational tool based on visibility nulls in optical spectro-interferometry fringe data to probe the structure of stellar atmospheres. In a preliminary demonstration, we use both Navy Precision Optical Interferometer…
Historically, solar flare detection has been dependent on methods that require the presence of expensive satellites or other Earth based costly equipment. In this paper, we propose a cost effective, terrestrial alternative that enables…
Exoplanets with a long orbital period are difficult to discover by extant methods. Our first publication (Lerner, P., A. Mayer, T. E. Sullivan. 2023. A new method for the discovery of the distant exoplanets. SPIE Proceedings 12680:…
We present a new gravitational lens modelling technique designed to model high-resolution interferometric observations with large numbers of visibilities without the need to pre-average the data in time or frequency. We demonstrate the…
Several recent designs for planet-finding telescopes use coronagraphs operating at visible wavelengths to suppress starlight along the telescope's optical axis while transmitting any off-axis light from circumstellar material. We describe a…
The Photonic Lantern Nuller (PLN) is an instrument concept designed to characterize exoplanets within a single beam-width from its host star. The PLN leverages the spatial symmetry of a mode-selective photonic lantern (MSPL) to create…
Although the study of X-ray binaries has led to major breakthroughs in high-energy astrophysics, their circumbinary environment at scales of $\sim$100--10,000 astronomical units has not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, we…
We propose a new data analysis method for obtaining transmission spectra of exoplanet atmospheres and brightness variation across the stellar disk from transit observations. The new method is capable of recovering exoplanet atmosphere…
A major endeavor of this decade is the direct characterization of young giant exoplanets at high spectral resolution to determine the composition of their atmosphere and infer their formation processes and evolution. Such a goal represents…
Gravitational microlensing is a new technique that allows low-mass exoplanets to be detected at large distances of ~7kpc. This paper briefly outlines the principles of the method and describes the observational techniques. It shows that…
We present an analysis of contemporaneous photospheric, chromospheric and coronal structures on the highly active K-dwarf star BO Mic (Speedy Mic). We localize a moderate flare in the stellar atmosphere and study its energetics, size and…
High-resolution spectroscopy (R>50,000) in astronomy typically uses echelle-type spectrographs, which excel for exoplanet detection via radial velocity but compromise throughput for atmospheric characterization. We propose and test a novel…
A new wavefront sensing approach, derived from the successful curvature wavefront sensing concept but using a non-linear phase retrieval wavefront reconstruction scheme, is described. The non-linear curvature wavefront sensor (nlCWFS)…
Coronagraphy is a very efficient technique for identifying and characterizing extra-solar planets orbiting in the habitable zone of their parent star, especially when used in a space environment. An important family of coronagraphs is based…
In the two decades since the first extra-solar planet was discovered, the detection and characterization of extra-solar planets has become one of the key endeavors in all of modern science. Recently direct detection techniques such as…
Time-resolved photometry is an important new probe of the physics of condensate clouds in extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs. Extreme adaptive optics systems can directly image planets, but precise brightness measurements are challenging.…