Related papers: Notch Filter Masks: Practical Image Masks for Plan…
(abridged) Vortex coronagraphs are among the most promising solutions to perform high contrast imaging at small angular separations. They feature a very small inner working angle, a clear 360 degree discovery space, have demonstrated very…
In CMB science, the simplest idea to remove a contaminated sky region is to multiply the sky map with a mask that is 0 for the contaminated region and 1 elsewhere, which is also called a top-hat masking. Although it is easy to use, such…
Diffraction-limited images can be obtained with a large optical telescope using interferometry. One such method for objects of sufficient brightness is non-redundant masking (NRM), in which observations are made through a pupil mask that…
Described here is the design and commissioning of a coronagraph facility for the 4.2 metre William Herschel Telescope (WHT) and its Nasmyth Adaptive Optics system for Multi-purpose Instrumentation (NAOMI). The use of the NAOMI system gives…
We develop a linear algorithm for extracting extragalactic point sources for the Compact Source Catalogue of the upcoming PLANCK mission. This algorithm is based on a simple top-hat filter in the harmonic domain with an adaptive filtering…
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…
In this contribution, we explore the imaging limits of terahertz single-pixel cameras and present a way to improve the achievable signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution using a technique called dithering masks. The proposed procedure…
Imaging of planets is very difficult, due to the glare from their nearby, much brighter suns. Static and slowly-evolving aberrations are the limiting factors, even after application of adaptive optics. The residual speckle pattern is highly…
The current high-fidelity generation and high-precision detection of DeepFake images are at an arms race. We believe that producing DeepFakes that are highly realistic and 'detection evasive' can serve the ultimate goal of improving future…
Imaging at hard X-ray energies (~10-600 keV) over very large fields of view (~60 deg per telescope) is required to conduct a high sensitivity all-sky and all-time survey for black holes. The proposed Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope…
Simulations of light scattering off an extreme ultraviolet lithography mask with a 2D-periodic absorber pattern are presented. In a detailed convergence study it is shown that accurate results can be attained for relatively large 3D…
We present a study of Lyot style (i.e., classical, band-limited, and Gaussian occulter) coronagraphy on extremely large, highly-segmented telescopes. We show that while increased telescope diameter is always an advantage for high dynamic…
The penetrating power of X rays underpins important applications such as medical radiography. However, this same attribute makes it challenging to achieve flexible on-demand patterning of X-ray beams. One possible path to this goal is…
The world is going through one of the most dangerous pandemics of all time with the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). According to the World Health Organisation, the most effective way to thwart the transmission of…
Ptychography is an imaging technique which involves a sample being illuminated by a coherent, localized probe of illumination. When the probe interacts with the sample, the light is diffracted and a diffraction pattern is detected. Then the…
Imaging exo-Earths is an exciting but challenging task because of the 10^-10 contrast ratio between these planets and their host star at separations narrower than 100 mas. Large segmented aperture space telescopes enable the sensitivity…
Mask-based pattern generation is a crucial step in microchip production. The next-generation extreme-ultraviolet- (EUV) lithography instruments with a wavelength of \SI{13.5}{\nano\meter} is currently under development. In principle, this…
Image coaddition is one of the most basic operations that astronomers perform. In Paper~I, we presented the optimal ways to coadd images in order to detect faint sources and to perfrom flux measurements under the assumption that the noise…
Several coronagraph designs have been proposed over the last two decades to directly image exoplanets. Among these designs, the vector vortex coronagraphs provide theoretically perfect starlight cancellation along with small inner working…
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…