Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.8203t&link_type=abstract
2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #82.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The detection and characterization of exoplanets around nearby stars is the main objective of several proposed space missions. The development of viable concepts will require the laboratory demonstration of optical wavefront correction and diffracted light suppression to the levels needed to detect Solar-System-like planets at visible wavelengths. Our laboratory setup captures the essential optical features of a space coronagraph. A band-limited coronagraph configuration was used, actively corrected with a single deformable mirror (DM) and a speckle nulling algorithm at the final image plane. The entire optical system is enclosed in a space-like vacuum environment.
We report the suppression of background speckles to contrast levels of 6 × 10-10 compared to the occulted central star, over a field of view extending in angle from 4 to 10 λ/D from the star, and with wavefront correction stable to the required levels over periods of hours. We illustrate the use of multiple images from the laboratory to push the detection levels to below 10-10. These demonstrations were carried out in narrowband light, representing a big step in the right direction, but more work remains. Ongoing laboratory work is focused on broadening the spectral bandwidth, suppressing speckles simultaneously on both sides of the star with a pair of DMs, and increasing the radial field of view, both inward and outward. The present work lays the groundwork for the development of future missions that will, for the first time, explore nearby exoplanet systems by direct imaging and spectroscopy.
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Traub Wesley A.
Trauger John T.
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