Lab results of the circular phase mask concepts for high-contrast imaging of exoplanets

Abstract

Circular phase mask concepts represent promising options for high contrast imaging and spectroscopy of exo-planets. Depending on their design, they can either work as a diffraction suppression system or as a focal plane wavefront sensor. While the apodized Roddier coronagraph uses a π-phase mask to obtain complete suppression of the star image in monochromatic light, the Zernike sensor uses a π/2-phase mask to measure the residual aberrations in the focal plane by encoding them into intensity variations in the relayed pupil. Implementations of the Zernike sensor can be considered in exoplanet imagers such as VLT-SPHERE, Gemini planet imager, Palomar-P1640 or Subaru-SCExAO to enlarge their capabilities. However, such concepts have not been validated experimentally up to now. Our goal is to perform lab demonstration of this concept on our visible coronagraph testbed at LAM and to propose an upgrade design for SPHERE. In this communication, we report on results of lab measurements of the Zernike sensor and determine its sensitivity to small wavefront errors.