Abstract
High-contrast imaging systems with a stellar halo suppression level of 10(-10) are required for direct detection of Earth-like extra-solar planets. We investigated a novel high-contrast imaging system with an unbalanced nulling interferometer (UNI) followed by phase and amplitude correction (PAC), which not only can reduce starlight but also can suppress the speckle level caused by wavefront aberrations. We successfully demonstrated that wavefront aberrations were sufficiently magnified by the UNI and the magnified aberrations were effectively corrected in amplitude and phase with two deformable mirrors. We confirmed that the suppression level of the speckle pattern with the proposed optics was beyond the limit of the adaptive optics performance.
Highlights
High-contrast imaging systems with a stellar halo suppression level of 10−10 are required for direct detection of Earth-like extra-solar planets
We investigated a novel high-contrast imaging system with an unbalanced nulling interferometer (UNI) followed by phase and amplitude correction (PAC) adaptive optics (AO), which can reduce starlight and can suppress the speckle level by a virtual wavefront correction beyond the limit of the AO performance[1]
The present system consists of four stages, i.e., a first AO, the UNI, the PAC AO, and a final coronagraph (Fig. 1)
Summary
High-contrast imaging systems with a stellar halo suppression level of 10−10 are required for direct detection of Earth-like extra-solar planets. KUROKAWA, Takashi (Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology) Λ/10000 rms wavefront quality is required for the optics to suppress the speckle level, and a coronagraph will be used to reduce the diffracted light of a parent star.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
