Study of High-Performance Coronagraphic Techniques

Physics – Condensed Matter – Materials Science

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

We will provide a progress report about our study of high-performance coronagraphic techniques. At SAO we have set up a testbed to test coronagraphic masks and to demonstrate Labeyrie's multi-step speckle reduction technique. This technique expands the general concept of a coronagraph by incorporating a speckle corrector (phase or amplitude) and second occulter for speckle light suppression. The testbed consists of a coronagraph with high precision optics (2 inch spherical mirrors with lambda/1000 surface quality), lasers simulating the host star and the planet, and a single Labeyrie correction stage with a MEMS deformable mirror (DM) for the phase correction. The correction function is derived from images taken in- and slightly out-of-focus using phase diversity. The testbed is operational awaiting coronagraphic masks. The testbed control software for operating the CCD camera, the translation stage that moves the camera in- and out-of-focus, the wavefront recovery (phase diversity) module, and DM control is under development.
We are also developing coronagraphic masks in collaboration with Harvard University and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMCO). The development at Harvard utilizes a focused ion beam system to mill masks out of absorber material and the LMCO approach uses patterns of dots to achieve the desired mask performance. We will present results of both investigations including test results from the first generation of LMCO masks obtained with our high-precision mask scanner.
This work was supported by NASA through grant NNG04GC57G, through SAO IR&D funding, and by Harvard University through the Research Experience for Undergraduate Program of Harvard's Materials Science and Engineering Center. Central facilities were provided by Harvard's Center for Nanoscale Systems.

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