Johan Mazoyer

First images of debris disks around TWA 7, TWA 25, HD 35650, and HD 377

We present the first images of four debris disks observed in scattered light around the young (4--250 Myr old) M dwarfs TWA 7 and TWA 25, the K6 star HD 35650, and the G2 star HD 377. We obtained these images by reprocessing archival Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS coronagraph data with modern post-processing techniques as part of the Archival Legacy Investigation of Circumstellar Environments (ALICE) program. All four disks appear faint and compact compared with other debris disks resolved in scattered light. The disks around TWA 25, HD 35650, and HD 377 appear very inclined, while TWA 7s disk is viewed nearly face-on. The surface brightness of HD 35650s disk is strongly asymmetric. These new detections raise the number of disks resolved in scattered light around M and late-K stars from one (the AU Mic system) to four. This new sample of resolved disks enables comparative studies of heretofore scarce debris disks around low-mass stars relative to solar-type stars.

Active compensation of aperture discontinuities for WFIRST-AFTA: analytical and numerical comparison of propagation methods and preliminary results with a WFIRST-AFTA-like pupil

Abstract. The new frontier in the quest for the highest contrast levels in the focal plane of a coronagraph is now the correction of the large diffraction artifacts introduced at the science camera by apertures of increasing complexity. Indeed, the future generation of space- and ground-based coronagraphic instruments will be mounted on on-axis and/or segmented telescopes; the design of coronagraphic instruments for such observatories is currently a domain undergoing rapid progress. One approach consists of using two sequential deformable mirrors (DMs) to correct for aberrations introduced by secondary mirror structures and segmentation of the primary mirror. The coronagraph for the WFIRST-AFTA mission will be the first of such instruments in space with a two-DM wavefront control system. Regardless of the control algorithm for these multiple DMs, they will have to rely on quick and accurate simulation of the propagation effects introduced by the out-of-pupil surface. In the first part of this paper, we present the analytical description of the different approximations to simulate these propagation effects. In Appendix A, we prove analytically that in the special case of surfaces inducing a converging beam, the Fresnel method yields high fidelity for simulations of these effects. We provide numerical simulations showing this effect. In the second part, we use these tools in the framework of the active compensation of aperture discontinuities (ACAD) technique applied to pupil geometries similar to WFIRST-AFTA. We present these simulations in the context of the optical layout of the high-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes, which will test ACAD on a optical bench. The results of this analysis show that using the ACAD method, an apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph, and the performance of our current DMs, we are able to obtain, in numerical simulations, a dark hole with a WFIRST-AFTA-like. Our numerical simulation shows that we can obtain contrast better than 2×10−9 in monochromatic light and better than 3×10−8 with 10% bandwidth between 5 and 14 λ/D.

Active correction of aperture discontinuities (ACAD) for space telescope pupils: a parametic analysis

As the performance of coronagraphs improves, the achievable contrast is more and more dependent of the shape of the pupil. The future generation of space and ground based coronagraphic instruments will have to achieve high contrast levels on on-axis and/or segmented telescopes. To correct for the high amplitude aberrations introduced by secondary mirror structures and segmentation of the primary mirror, we explore a two deformable mirror (DM) method. The major difficulty of several DM methods is the non-linear relation linking actuator strokes to the point spread function in the coronagraph focal plane. The Active Compensation of Aperture Discontinuities (ACAD) method is achieving this minimization by solving a non linear differential Monge Ampere equation. Once this open loop method have reached the minimum, a close-loop stroke minimization method can be applied to correct for phase and amplitude aberrations to achieve the ultimate contrast. In this paper, I describe the results of the parametric analysis that that I have undertaken on this method. After recalling the principle of the method, I will described the explored parameter space (deformable mirror set-up, shape of the pupil, bandwidth, coronagraph designs). I will precisely described the way I simulated the Vortex coronagraph for this numerical simulation. Finally I will present the preliminary results of this parametric analysis for space telescope pupils only.

Dark hole and planet detection: laboratory results using the self-coherent camera

Direct imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy of extrasolar planets are exciting but challenging scientific applications of coronagraphy. While the angular separation is well within the reach of actual telescope in the near IR or visible, the planet-star contrast (from 10−6 to 10−10) requires wavefront quality and stability hard to reach even with a well-polished space telescope. Several solutions have been proposed to tackle the speckle noise introduced by the residual optical defects. While some concepts rely only on active wavefront correction using deformable mirror, other techniques are based on post-processing and subtract a reference image recorded sometimes simultaneously with the science image. One interesting solution is to choose a concept that allows both active correction and post-processing of high contrast coronagraphic images. This is the case of the Self Coherent Camera (SCC), which has been proposed for the project of space coronagraph SPICES and for the ground-based planet finder EPICS studied for the European Extremely Large Telescope. After recalling the SCC principle, we present both monochromatic and modest bandwidth (2%) experimental results of Dark Hole in the focal plane using a SCC. Example of a post-processing result with SCC is also given to emphasize the interest of combining it with active correction.

Focal plane wavefront sensor achromatization: The multireference self-coherent camera

Context. High contrast imaging and spectroscopy provide unique constraints for exoplanet formation models as well as for planetary atmosphere models. But this can be challenging because of the planet-to-star small angular separation ( 10 5 ). Recently, optimized instruments like VLT/SPHERE and Gemini/GPI were installed on 8m-class telescopes. These will probe young gazeous exoplanets at large separations (>1 au) but, because of uncalibrated phase and amplitude aberrations that induce speckles in the coronagraphic images, they are not able to detect older and fainter planets. Aims. There are always aberrations that are slowly evolving in time. They create quasi-static speckles that cannot be calibrated a posteriori with sufficient accuracy. An active correction of these speckles is thus needed to reach very high contrast levels (>10 6 −10 7 ). This requires a focal plane wavefront sensor. Our team proposed a self coherent camera, the performance of which was demonstrated in the laboratory. As for all focal plane wavefront sensors, these are sensitive to chromatism and we propose an upgrade that mitigates the chromatism effects. Methods. First, we recall the principle of the self-coherent camera and we explain its limitations in polychromatic light. Then, we present and numerically study two upgrades to mitigate chromatism effects: the optical path difference method and the multireference self-coherent camera. Finally, we present laboratory tests of the latter solution. Results. We demonstrate in the laboratory that the multireference self-coherent camera can be used as a focal plane wavefront sensor in polychromatic light using an 80 nm bandwidth at 640 nm (bandwidth of 12.5%). We reach a performance that is close to the chromatic limitations of our bench: 1σ contrast of 4.5 × 10 −8 between 5 and 17 λ0/D. Conclusions. The performance of the MRSCCis promising for future high-contrast imaging instruments that aim to actively minimize the speckle intensity so as to detect and spectrally characterize faint old or light gaseous planets.

Polynomial Apodizers for Centrally Obscured Vortex Coronagraphs

Several coronagraph designs have been proposed over the last two decades to directly image exoplanets. Among these designs, the vector vortex coronagraphs provide theoretically perfect starlight cancellation along with small inner working angles when deployed on telescopes with unobstructed pupils. However, current and planned space missions and ground-based extremely large telescopes present complex pupil geometries, including secondary mirror central obscurations, that prevent vortex coronagraphs from rejecting on-axis sources entirely. Recent solutions combining the vortex phase mask with a ring-apodized pupil have been proposed to circumvent this issue, but provide a limited throughput for vortex charges

High-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes (HiCAT): 3. first lab results with wavefront control

>2

Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope–Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets coronagraphic operations: lessons learned from the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope

. We present a family of pupil plane apodizations that compensate for pupil geometries with circularly symmetric central obstructions caused by on-axis secondary mirrors for charge 2, 4, and 6 vector vortex coronagraphs. These apodizations are derived analytically and allow the vortex coronagraph to retain theoretically perfect nulling in the presence of central obscurations. For a charge 4 vortex, we design polynomial apodization functions assuming a greyscale apodizing filter that represent a substantial gain in throughput over the ring-apodized vortex coronagraph design, while for a charge 6 vortex, we design polynomial apodized vortex coronagraphs that have

Review of high-contrast imaging systems for current and future ground-based and space-based telescopes: Part II. Common path wavefront sensing/control and coherent differential imaging

\gtrsim 70\%

Apodized Pupil Lyot coronagraphs with arbitrary aperture telescopes: novel designs using hybrid focal plane masks

total energy throughput for the entire range of central obscuration sizes studied. We propose methods for optimizing apodizations produced with either greyscale apodizing filters or shaped mirrors. We conclude by demonstrating how this design may be combined with apodizations numerically optimized for struts and segment gaps in telescope pupils to design terrestrial exoplanet imagers for complex pupils.