Related papers: Calibrating an Interferometric Null
The direct observation of extrasolar planets and their spectra is coming into reach with the new generation of ground-based near-IR interferometers, like the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). The high contrast between star and…
Nulling interferometry is a powerful observing technique to study exoplanets and circumstellar dust at separations too small for direct imaging with single-dish telescopes. With recent photonics developments and the near-future ground-based…
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…
Coronagraphs allow for faint off-axis exoplanets to be observed, but are limited to angular separations greater than a few beam widths. Accessing closer-in separations would greatly increase the expected number of detectable planets, which…
The use of interferometric nulling for the direct detection of extrasolar planets is in part limited by the extreme sensitivity of the instrumental response to tiny optical path differences between apertures. The recently proposed…
To detect Earth-like planets in the visible with a coronagraphic telescope, two major noise sources have to be overcome: the photon noise of the diffracted star light, and the speckle noise due to the star light scattered by instrumental…
Nulling interferometry is an astronomical technique that combines equal wavefronts to achieve a deep rejection ratio of an on-axis star, and that could permit to detect Earth-like planets in the mid-infrared band 5 -- 20 microns. Similarly…
Interferometers provide a highly sensitive means to investigate and exploit the coherence properties of light in metrology applications. However, interferometers come in various forms and exploit different properties of the optical states…
We analyze an intensity interferometry measurement carried out with two point-like detectors facing a distant source (e.g., a star) that may be partially occluded by an absorptive object (e.g., a planet). Such a measurement, based on the…
Mechanical and electronic imperfections can result into polarization leakage in individual antennas of a radio interferometer. Such leakages manifest themselves as closure errors even in co-polar visibility measurements of unpolarized…
Integrated-optic components are being increasingly used in astrophysics, mainly where accuracy and precision are paramount. One such emerging technology is nulling interferometry that targets high contrast and high angular resolution. Two…
We discuss the theory of the Bracewell nulling interferometer and explicitly demonstrate that the phase of the "white light" null fringe is the same as the phase of the bright output from an ordinary stellar interferometer. As a consequence…
The development of sensitive large format imaging arrays for the infrared promises to provide revolutionary capabilities for space astronomy. For example, the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on SIRTF will use four 256 x 256 arrays to provide…
Herein is discussed the performance of spaceborne nulling interferometers searching for extra-solar planets, in terms of their extinction maps projected on-sky. In particular, it is shown that the designs of Spatial Filtering (SF) and…
A new method for absolute polarimetric calibration of large telescopes is presented. The proposed method is highly accurate and is based on the calibration of a small sub-aperture, which is then extended to the full system by means of…
Stellar intensity interferometers correlate photons within their coherence time and could overcome the baseline limitations of existing amplitude interferometers. Intensity interferometers do not rely on phase coherence of the optical…
Direct detection of a planet around a star in the mid-IR, requires a nulling interferometer featuring an achromatic phase shift of pi on broad range. A new concept for designing such an achromatic phase shifter is presented here. The major…
Space-borne nulling interferometers have long been considered as the best option for searching and characterizing extra-solar planets located in the habitable zone of their parent stars. Solutions for achieving deep starlight extinction are…
One of the main methods used for finding extrasolar planets is the radial velocity technique, in which the Doppler shift of a star due to an orbiting planet is measured. These measurements are typically performed using cross-dispersed…
Detecting exoplanets and other faint sources of emitted and reflected light near a bright star requires deeply suppressing the starlight while efficiently transmitting the dim light from its surroundings. This suppression can be carried out…