Related papers: Diffraction-Based Sensitivity Analysis of Apodized…

Properly apodized pupils can deliver point spread functions (PSFs) free of Airy rings, and are suitable for high dynamical range imaging of extrasolar terrestrial planets (ETPs). To reach this goal, classical pupil apodization (CPA)…

The current generation of ground-based coronagraphic instruments uses deformable mirrors to correct for phase errors and to improve contrast levels at small angular separations. Improving these techniques, several space and ground based…

Phase apodization coronagraphs are implemented in a pupil plane to create a dark hole in the science camera focal plane. They are successfully created as "Apodizing Phase Plates" (APPs) using classical optical manufacturing, and as…

Zernike polynomials are widely used to describe the wavefront phase as they are well suited to the circular geometry of various optical apertures. Non-conventional optical systems, such as future large optical telescopes with highly…

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…

This paper is based on the opening lecture given at the 2017 edition of the Evry Schatzman school on high-angular resolution imaging of stars and their direct environment. Two relevant observing techniques: long baseline interferometry and…

The aberrations in an optical microscope are commonly measured and corrected at one location in the field of view, within the so-called isoplanatic patch. Full-field correction is desirable for high-resolution imaging of large specimens.…

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…

High-contrast imaging has been used to discover and characterize dozens of exoplanets to date. The primary limiting performance factor for these instruments is contrast, the ratio of exoplanet to host star brightness that an instrument can…

Most telescope designs have a circular-shape aperture. We demonstrate that telescopes with an elongated pupil have better contrast, at lower separations, between a bright central star and a faint companion. We simulate images for an…

Phase-induced amplitude apodization (PIAA) coronagraphs are a promising technology for imaging exoplanets, with the potential to detect Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars. A PIAA system nominally consists of a pair of mirrors which…

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is an instrument designed for the Gemini South telescope to image young Jupiter-mass planets in the infrared. To achieve the high contrast needed for this, it employs an apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph (APLC)…

Second-generation exoplanet imagers using extreme adaptive optics and coronagraphy have demonstrated their great potential for studying close circumstellar environments and for detecting new companions and helping to understand their…

The Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph (APLC) is a diffraction suppression system installed in the recently deployed instruments Palomar/P1640, Gemini/GPI, and VLT/SPHERE to allow direct imaging and spectroscopy of circumstellar environments.…

Astrometric detection and mass determination of Earth-mass exoplanets requires sub-microarcsec accuracy, which is theoretically possible with an imaging space telescope using field stars as an astrometric reference. The measurement must…

In astronomy or biological imaging, refractive index inhomogeneities of e.g. atmosphere or tissues induce optical aberrations which degrade the desired information hidden behind the medium. A standard approach consists in measuring these…

Future space telescopes with coronagraph instruments will use a wavefront sensor (WFS) to measure and correct for phase errors and stabilize the stellar intensity in high-contrast images. The HabEx and LUVOIR mission concepts baseline a…

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…

Context. Several exoplanet direct imaging instruments will soon be in operation. They use an extreme adaptive optics (XAO) system to correct the atmospheric turbulence and provide a highly-corrected beam to a near-infrared (NIR) coronagraph…

Future high-contrast imagers on ground-based extremely large telescopes will have to deal with the segmentation of the primary mirrors. Residual phase errors coming from the phase steps at the edges of the segments will have to be minimized…