Towards 1010 contrast for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission: Demonstration of high contrast in a shaped-pupil coronagraph at Princeton

Ruslan Belikov; James Beall; Michael Carr; Amir Give'on; Jason Kay; Taofik Kolade; Michael Littman; Frank Mycroft; Laurent Pueyo; Robert J. Vanderbei; N. Jeremy Kasdin

doi:10.1017/S1743921306009689

Towards 10¹⁰ contrast for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission: Demonstration of high contrast in a shaped-pupil coronagraph at Princeton

Ruslan Belikov, James Beall, Michael Carr, Amir Give'on, Jason Kay, Taofik Kolade, Michael Littman, Frank Mycroft, Laurent Pueyo, Robert J. Vanderbei, N. Jeremy Kasdin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Our group at Princeton University is developing the Shaped-Pupil Coronagraph (SPC) as a solution to the high contrast imaging requirements for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission. At the heart of the SPC is a specially designed shaped mask at the pupil plane, and a star occulter at the image plane. We report a measurement of 10⁵ contrast at 4 λ/D and 10⁶ at 7 λ/D, with no adaptive optics corrections. This contrast is maintained at laser wavelengths of 532, 594, and 632nm, and for broadband light from at least 550nm to 750nm. The contrast is almost certainly limited by wavefront aberrations in the mirrors. Indeed, the level and general structure of the speckles in the high contrast region is consistent with statistical simulations of our optics.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	415-420
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Volume	1
Issue number	C200
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921306009689
State	Published - 2005

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Keywords

Astrobiology
Extraterrestrial intelligence
Instrumentation: adaptive optics
Instrumentation: high angular resolution
Methods: laboratory
Planets and satellites: general
Space vehicles: instruments
Stars: planetary systems

Access to Document

10.1017/S1743921306009689

Cite this

Belikov, R., Beall, J., Carr, M., Give'on, A., Kay, J., Kolade, T., Littman, M., Mycroft, F., Pueyo, L., Vanderbei, R. J., & Kasdin, N. J. (2005). Towards 10¹⁰ contrast for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission: Demonstration of high contrast in a shaped-pupil coronagraph at Princeton. Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, 1(C200), 415-420. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921306009689

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title = "Towards 1010 contrast for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission: Demonstration of high contrast in a shaped-pupil coronagraph at Princeton",

abstract = "Our group at Princeton University is developing the Shaped-Pupil Coronagraph (SPC) as a solution to the high contrast imaging requirements for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission. At the heart of the SPC is a specially designed shaped mask at the pupil plane, and a star occulter at the image plane. We report a measurement of 105 contrast at 4 λ/D and 106 at 7 λ/D, with no adaptive optics corrections. This contrast is maintained at laser wavelengths of 532, 594, and 632nm, and for broadband light from at least 550nm to 750nm. The contrast is almost certainly limited by wavefront aberrations in the mirrors. Indeed, the level and general structure of the speckles in the high contrast region is consistent with statistical simulations of our optics.",

keywords = "Astrobiology, Extraterrestrial intelligence, Instrumentation: adaptive optics, Instrumentation: high angular resolution, Methods: laboratory, Planets and satellites: general, Space vehicles: instruments, Stars: planetary systems",

author = "Ruslan Belikov and James Beall and Michael Carr and Amir Give'on and Jason Kay and Taofik Kolade and Michael Littman and Frank Mycroft and Laurent Pueyo and Vanderbei, {Robert J.} and Kasdin, {N. Jeremy}",

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Belikov, R, Beall, J, Carr, M, Give'on, A, Kay, J, Kolade, T, Littman, M, Mycroft, F, Pueyo, L, Vanderbei, RJ & Kasdin, NJ 2005, 'Towards 10¹⁰ contrast for NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder mission: Demonstration of high contrast in a shaped-pupil coronagraph at Princeton', Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, vol. 1, no. C200, pp. 415-420. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921306009689

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T2 - Demonstration of high contrast in a shaped-pupil coronagraph at Princeton

AU - Belikov, Ruslan

AU - Beall, James

AU - Carr, Michael

AU - Give'on, Amir

AU - Kay, Jason

AU - Kolade, Taofik

AU - Littman, Michael

AU - Mycroft, Frank

AU - Pueyo, Laurent

AU - Vanderbei, Robert J.

AU - Kasdin, N. Jeremy

PY - 2005

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KW - Astrobiology

KW - Extraterrestrial intelligence

KW - Instrumentation: adaptive optics

KW - Instrumentation: high angular resolution

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KW - Planets and satellites: general

KW - Space vehicles: instruments

KW - Stars: planetary systems

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