Toward 10 10 contrast for terrestrial exoplanet detection: Demonstration of wavefront correction in a shaped-pupil coronagraph

Ruslan Belikov, Amir Give'on, John T. Trauger, Michael Carr, N. Jeremy Kasdin, Robert J. Vanderbei, Fang Shi, Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian, Andreas Kuhnert

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Shaped Pupil Coronagraph (SPC) is a high-contrast imaging system pioneered at Princeton for detection of extrasolar earthlike planets. It is designed to achieve 10 -10 contrast at an inner working angle of 4λ/D. However, a critical requirement in attaining this contrast level in practice is the ability to control wavefront phase and amplitude aberrations to at least λ/10 4 in rms phase and 1/1000 rms amplitude, respectively. Furthermore, this has to be maintained over a large spectral band. The High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) is a state-of-the-art facility for studying high contrast imaging systems and fine wavefront control methods. It consists of a vacuum chamber containing a configurable coronagraph setup with a Xinetics deformable mirror. In this paper, we present the results of testing Princeton's SPC in JPL's HCIT. In particular, we present the achievement of 4×10 -8 contrast using a speckle nulling algorithm, and demonstrate that this contrast is maintained across wavelengths of 785, 836nm, and for broadband light having 10% bandwidth around 800nm.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation I
Subtitle of host publicationOptical, Infrared, and Millimeter
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
EventSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter - Orlando, FL, United States
Duration: May 24 2006May 31 2006

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume6265 I
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Other

OtherSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityOrlando, FL
Period5/24/065/31/06

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Computer Science Applications

Keywords

  • Coronagraph
  • Extrasolar planets
  • High contrast
  • Shaped pupils
  • Speckle nulling
  • Wavefront correction

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Toward 10 10 contrast for terrestrial exoplanet detection: Demonstration of wavefront correction in a shaped-pupil coronagraph'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this