Related papers: Tip-tilt Error in Lyot Coronagraphs
Exoplanet imaging and spectroscopy are now routinely achieved by dedicated instruments on large ground-based observatories (e.g. Gemini/GPI, VLT/SPHERE, or Subaru/SCExAO). In addition to extreme adaptive optics (ExAO) and post-processing…
Small inner working angle coronagraphs are essential to benefit from the full potential of large and future extremely large ground-based telescopes, especially in the context of the detection and characterization of exoplanets. Among…
We introduce a new class of solutions for Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraphs (APLC) with segmented aperture telescopes to remove broadband diffracted light from a star with a contrast level of $10^{10}$. These new coronagraphs provide a key…
Non-common path quasi-static and differential aberrations are one of the big hurdles of direct imaging for current and future high-contrast imaging instruments. They increase speckle and photon noise thus reducing the achievable contrast…
Spectrographs nominally contain a degree of quasi-static optical aberrations resulting from the quality of manufactured component surfaces, imperfect alignment, design residuals, thermal effects, and other other associated phenomena…
This paper is concerned with the theoretical properties of high contrast coronagraphic images in the context of exoplanet searches. We derive and analyze the statistical properties of the residual starlight in coronagraphic images, and…
Extrasolar planets observation and characterization by high contrast imaging instruments is set to be a very important subject in observational astronomy. Dedicated instruments are being developed to achieve this goal with very high…
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…
An undersampled point spread function may interact with the microstructure of a solid-state detector such that the total flux detected can depend sensitively on where the PSF center falls within a pixel. Such intra-pixel sensitivity…
Direct imaging and spectral characterization of exoplanets using extreme adaptive optics (ExAO) is a key science goal of future extremely large telescopes and space observatories. However, quasi-static wavefront errors will limit the…
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…
High-contrast coronagraphy will be needed to image and characterize faint extra-solar planetary systems. Coronagraphy is a rapidly evolving field, and many enhanced alternatives to the classical Lyot coronagraph have been proposed in the…
Direct detection and spectroscopy of exoplanets requires high contrast imaging. For habitable exoplanets in particular, located at small angular separation from the host star, it is crucial to employ small inner working angle (IWA)…
When directly imaging a cold giant exoplanet hosting a ring system, the reflected light from the rings can outshine the planet's thermal emission and reflected-light in the near-infrared. Consequently, an exoring may be detectable at a…
Telescope pupil fragmentation from spiders generates specific aberrations observed at various telescopes and expected on the large telescopes under construction. This so-called island effect induces differential pistons, tips and tilts on…
The Astro2020 decadal survey recommended an infrared, optical, ultra-violet (IR/O/UV) telescope with a $\sim$6~m inscribed diameter and equipped with a coronagraph instrument to directly image exoEarths in the habitable zone of their host…
Coronagraphs of the apodized pupil and shaped pupil varieties use the Fraunhofer diffraction properties of amplitude masks to create regions of high contrast in the vicinity of a target star. Here we present a hybrid coronagraph…
We present an analytic description of tides raised on a star by a small orbiting body. In particular, we highlight the disproportionate effect of eccentricity and thus the scope for using these tides to detect and characterise the orbits of…
Oncoming exoplanet spectro-imagers like the Planetary Camera and Spectrograph (PCS) for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will aim for a new class of exoplanets, including Earth-like planets evolving around M dwarfs i.e., closer than…
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…