Related papers: Introduction to stellar coronagraphy
One of the main challenges for the direct imaging of planets around nearby stars is the suppression of the diffracted halo from the primary star. Coronagraphs are angular filters that suppress this diffracted halo. The Apodizing Phase Plate…
Using 2 aspheric mirrors, it is possible to apodize a telescope beam without losing light or angular resolution: the output beam is produced by ``remapping'' the entrance beam to produce the desired light intensity distribution in a new…
The detection of molecular species in the atmospheres of earth-like exoplanets orbiting nearby stars requires an optical system that suppresses starlight and maximizes the sensitivity to the weak planet signals at small angular separations.…
Stellar coronagraph performance is highly sensitive to optical aberrations. In order to effectively suppress starlight for exoplanet imaging applications, low-order wavefront aberrations entering a coronagraph such as tip-tilt, defocus and…
We propose a solution to the problem of astrometric and photometric calibration of coronagraphic images with a simple optical device which, in theory, is easy to use. Our design uses the Fraunhofer approximation of Fourier optics. Placing a…
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…
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)…
General arguments for optimized coronagraphy in the search for planets are presented. First, off-axis telescopes provide the best telescopic platforms for use with coronagraphy, and telescope fabrication technology now allows the…
High contrast coronagraphic imaging of the immediate surrounding of stars requires exquisite control of low-order wavefront aberrations, such as tip-tilt (pointing) and focus. We propose an accurate, efficient and easy to implement…
The vortex coronagraph (VC) is a new generation small inner working angle (IWA) coronagraph currently offered on various 8-meter class ground-based telescopes. On these observing platforms, the current level of performance is not limited by…
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 derive an analytical solution to the computation of the output of a Lyot coronagraph for a given complex amplitude on the pupil plane. This solution, which does not require any simplifying assumption, relies on an expansion of the…
Directly imaging Earth-sized exoplanets with a visible-light coronagraph instrument on a space telescope will require a system that can achieve $\sim10^{-10}$ raw contrast and maintain it for the duration of observations (on the order of…
One of two approaches to implementing NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder is to build a space telescope that utilizes the techniques of coronagraphy and apodization to suppress diffraction and image exo-planets. We present a method for…
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…
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…
We compare coronagraph concepts and investigate their behavior and suitability for planet finder projects with Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs, 30-42 meters class telescopes). For this task, we analyze the impact of major error sources…
A multitude of coronagraphic techniques for the space-based direct detection and characterization of exo-solar terrestrial planets are actively being pursued by the astronomical community. Typical coronagraphs have internal shaped focal…
We present a new method for numerical propagation through Lyot-style coronagraphs using finite occulting masks. Standard methods for coronagraphic simulations involve Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) of very large arrays, and computing power…
We present an approach for utilizing astrometric orbit information to improve the yield of planetary images and spectra from a follow-on direct detection mission. This approach is based on the notion-strictly hypothetical-that if a…