@inproceedings{d9be412c0825433b9e7f3685bf4b4b30,
title = "Design of a laboratory testbed for external occulters at flight Fresnel numbers",
abstract = "One of the main candidates for creating high-contrast for future Exo-Earth detection is an external occulter or sharshade. A starshade blocks the light from the parent star by flying in formation along the line-of-sight from a space telescope. Because of its large size and scale it is impossible to fully test a starshade system on the ground before launch. Instead, we rely on modeling supported by subscale laboratory tests to verify the models. At Princeton, we are designing and building a subscale testbed to verify the suppression and contrast of a starshade at the same Fresnel number as a flight system, and thus mathematically identical to a realistic space mission. Here we present the mechanical design of the testbed and simulations predicting the ultimate contrast performance. We will also present progress in implementation and preliminary results.",
keywords = "Exoplanets, External Occulters, High Contrast Imaging, Laboratory Scaling, Starshade",
author = "Yunjong Kim and Mike Galvin and Kasdin, {N. Jeremy} and Vanderbei, {Robert J.} and Dongok Ryu and Kim, {Ki Won} and Kim, {Sug Whan} and Dan Sirbu",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 SPIE.; Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets VII ; Conference date: 10-08-2015 Through 13-08-2015",
year = "2015",
doi = "10.1117/12.2186349",
language = "English (US)",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
publisher = "SPIE",
editor = "Stuart Shaklan",
booktitle = "Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets VII",
address = "United States",
}