Alexis Carlotti

RING-APODIZED VORTEX CORONAGRAPHS FOR OBSCURED TELESCOPES. I. TRANSMISSIVE RING APODIZERS

The vortex coronagraph (VC) is a new generation small inner working angle (IWA) coronagraph currently offered on various 8 m class ground-based telescopes. On these observing platforms, the current level of performance is not limited by the intrinsic properties of actual vortex devices, but by wavefront control residuals and incoherent background (e.g., thermal emission of the sky), or the light diffracted by the imprint of the secondary mirror and support structures on the telescope pupil. In the particular case of unfriendly apertures (mainly large central obscuration) when very high contrast is needed (e.g., direct imaging of older exoplanets with extremely large telescopes or space-based coronagraphs), a simple VC, like most coronagraphs, cannot deliver its nominal performance because of the contamination due to the diffraction from the obscured part of the pupil. Here, we propose a novel yet simple concept that circumvents this problem. We combine a vortex phase mask in the image plane of a high-contrast instrument with a single pupil-based amplitude ring apodizer, tailor-made to exploit the unique convolution properties of the VC at the Lyot-stop plane. We show that such a ring-apodized vortex coronagraph (RAVC) restores the perfect attenuation property of the VC regardless of the size of the central obscuration, and for any (even) topological charge of the vortex. More importantly, the RAVC maintains the IWA and conserves a fairly high throughput, which are signature properties of the VC.

Optimal pupil apodizations of arbitrary apertures for high-contrast imaging

In the context of exoplanet direct detection and characterization, where high-contrast imaging is mandatory, we present fully optimized two-dimensional pupil apodizations for which no specific geometric constraints are put on the pupil plane apodization, apart from the shape of the aperture itself. Masks for circular and segmented apertures are displayed, with and without a central obstruction and spiders. We can now optimize apodizers for any aperture shape, and examples of optimal masks are shown for the Subaru telescope, the Space Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Several high-contrast regions are considered with different sizes, positions, shapes and contrasts. It is interesting to note that all the masks that result from these optimizations tend to have a binary transmission profile.

Shaped pupil Lyot coronagraphs: high-contrast solutions for restricted focal planes

Abstract. Coronagraphs of the apodized pupil and shaped pupil varieties use the Fraunhofer diffraction properties of amplitude masks to create regions of high contrast in the vicinity of a target star. Here we present a hybrid coronagraph architecture in which a binary, hard-edged shaped pupil mask replaces the gray, smooth apodizer of the apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph (APLC). For any contrast and bandwidth goal in this configuration, as long as the prescribed region of contrast is restricted to a finite area in the image, a shaped pupil is the apodizer with the highest transmission. We relate the starlight cancellation mechanism to that of the conventional APLC. We introduce a new class of solutions in which the amplitude profile of the Lyot stop, instead of being fixed as a padded replica of the telescope aperture, is jointly optimized with the apodizer. Finally, we describe shaped pupil Lyot coronagraph (SPLC) designs for the baseline architecture of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope–Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) coronagraph. These SPLCs help to enable two scientific objectives of the WFIRST-AFTA mission: (1) broadband spectroscopy to characterize exoplanet atmospheres in reflected starlight and (2) debris disk imaging.

APODIZED PUPIL LYOT CORONAGRAPHS FOR ARBITRARY APERTURES. V. HYBRID SHAPED PUPIL DESIGNS FOR IMAGING EARTH-LIKE PLANETS WITH FUTURE SPACE OBSERVATORIES

We introduce a new class of solutions for Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraphs (APLC) with segmented aperture telescopes to remove broadband diffracted light from a star with a contrast level of

Apodized phase mask coronagraphs for arbitrary apertures

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Gemini Planet Imager Coronagraph Testbed Results

. These new coronagraphs provide a key advance to enabling direct imaging and spectroscopy of Earth twins with future large space missions. Building on shaped pupil (SP) apodization optimizations, our approach enables two-dimensional optimizations of the system to address any aperture features such as central obstruction, support structures or segment gaps. We illustrate the technique with a design that could reach

Apodized phase mask coronagraphs for arbitrary apertures - II. Comprehensive review of solutions for the vortex coronagraph

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Conceptual design of the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS) for the Subaru telescope

contrast level at 34\,mas for a 12\,m segmented telescope over a 10\% bandpass centered at a wavelength

The NIR arm of SHARK: System for coronagraphy with High-order Adaptive optics from R to K bands

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High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes (HiCAT): 1. Testbed design

500\,nm. These designs can be optimized specifically for the presence of a resolved star, and in our example, for stellar angular size up to 1.1\,mas. This would allow probing the vicinity of Sun-like stars located beyond 4.4\,pc, therefore fully retiring this concern. If the fraction of stars with Earth-like planets is