Innovative aperture segmentations control image plane diffraction

Abstract

Several modern astrophysics and exoplanet science imagining problems require minimum diffraction across the image plane. All large aperture ground and space telescopes today use a hexagonal segment pattern to tile the aperture. These tiles are optically phased to synthesize a single large aperture. This hexagonal pattern produces fixed pattern noise across the image which masks important astrophysics and exoplanet details. We present a new segment topology we call the pinwheel which eliminates this fixed pattern noise while enabling a cost effective aperture fabrication process. This new process lend itself to replication techniques which may reduce the aperture cost per unit area to that below the hex pattern topology. We evaluate this new topology for application in exoplanet characterization science.