ACCESS: a concept study for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanetary systems

Trauger, John T.; Stapelfeldt, K.; Traub, Wesley A.; Krist, John; Moody, Dwight; Mawet, Dimitri; Serabyn, Eugene; Henry, Curtis; Brugarolas, Paul; Alexander, James W.; Gappinger, Robert O.; Dawson, O.; Mireles, Virgil; Park, Peggy; Pueyo, Laurent; Shaklan, Stuart; Guyon, Olivier; Kasdin, Jeremy; Vanderbei, Robert J.; Spergel, David N.; Belikov, Ruslan; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Brown, Robert A.; Schneider, Jean; Woodgate, B. E.; Egerman, Robert; Matthews, Gary; Elias, Jason; Conturie, Y.; Vallone, Phillip; Voyer, Perry; Polidan, R. S.; Lillie, Charles F.; Spittler, Constance; Lee, David; Hejal, Reem; Bronowicki, Allen J.; Saldivar, Nick; Ealey, Mark A.; Price, Thomas R.

doi:10.1117/12.858301

Cited by 28 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In practice, the optical characteristics of available materials and practical aspects of the fabrication processes impose limitations on contrast levels and spectral bandwidths that are achievable in the real world. Nevertheless, the band-limited Lyot coronagraph approach has produced the best laboratory-validated performance among all known coronagraph types for contrast, spectral bandwidth, inner working angles, and overall throughput, and alone it has demonstrated high-contrast imaging performance at levels required for exoplanet exploration 3 .…”

Section: Astro2010 Challenge: New Worlds Technology Programmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A hybrid Lyot coronagraph for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanet systems: recent results and prospects

et al. 2011

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We report our best laboratory contrast demonstrations achieved to date. We review the design, fabrication, performance, and future prospects of a hybrid focal plane occulter for exoplanet coronagraphy. Composed of thickness-profiled metallic and dielectric thin films vacuum deposited on a fused silica substrate, the hybrid occulter uses two superimposed thin films for control over both the real and imaginary parts of the complex attenuation pattern. Together with a deformable mirror for adjustment of wavefront phase, the hybrid Lyot coronagraph potentially exceeds billion-toone contrast over dark fields extending to within angular separations of 3 λ/D from the central star, over spectral bandwidths of 20% or more, and with throughput efficiencies up to 60%.We report laboratory contrasts of 3×10 -10 over 2% bandwidths, 6×10 -10 over 10% bandwidths, and 2×10 -9 over 20% bandwidths, achieved across high contrast fields extending from an inner working angle of 3 λ/D to a radius of 15 λ/D. Occulter performance is analyzed in light of recent experiments and optical models, and prospects for further improvements are summarized.The science capabilities of the hybrid Lyot coronagraph are compared with requirements of the ACCESS mission, a representative exoplanet space telescope concept study for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanet systems. This work has been supported by NASA's Technology Demonstration for Exoplanet Missions (TDEM) program.

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Section: Astro2010 Challenge: New Worlds Technology Programmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…TDEM demonstrations are intended document progress in the development of key technologies relevant to a space-based coronagraph mission concept, such as ACCESS 3,4 , to detect and characterize exoplanets, thereby to gauge readiness to proceed to Phase A mission development. Protocols for the TDEM investigations are as follows.…”

Section: Tdem Demonstrationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A hybrid Lyot coronagraph for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanet systems: recent results and prospects

et al. 2011

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“…Trauger et al 2010; 9 for an example prototype see Trauger & Traub 2007 10 and Trauger et al 2011 11 ). In particular, instruments using a vector vortex mask can theoretically provide perfect on-axis light rejection for an unobstructed aperture.…”

Section: 4mentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal apodizations for on-axis vector vortex coronagraphs

Fogarty

Pueyo

Mawet³

2014

SPIE Proceedings

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Imaging planets requires instruments capable of dealing with extreme contrast ratios and that have a high resolution. Coronagraphs that can reach a contrast ratio in a neighborhood of 10 9 will be capable of observing Jupiter-like planets, while those with a contrast greater than a benchmark number of 10 10 to within a few λ/D of an on-axis star will render possible imaging of Earth-like planets. Plans for achieving this feat have been developed for use on telescopes with unobscured, circularly symmetric apertures. However; given that the next generation of large telescopes are on-axis designs with support structures in the telescope aperture and a central obstruction due to the secondary mirror, it has proven necessary to develop coronagraphic techniques that compensate for obstructions. Pueyo & Norman (2012) present a possible solution to the problem of the support structures using ACAD. In this paper, we present a coronagraphic design that uses a vector vortex and pupil apodization to compensate for the secondary mirror that could possibly be used in conjunction with a wavefront control system and/or ACAD. This coronagraph is capable of achieving a contrast ratio of at least 10 10 in a working angle of (1.5 − 30) λ/D in conjunction with an on-axis telescope. We can construct our pupil using a classical transmissive apodizer or pupil remapping. We find that the mirror shapes required are relatively simple (requiring ≤ 40 degrees of freedom to describe) and we expect they will be feasible to manufacture, and potentially even to implement with deformable mirrors. By combining existing high-contrast imaging techniques, we demonstrate that a relatively simple design may be used to image exo-Earths.

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“…Ref. 35 calculated the contrast degradation sensitivities due to errors in telescope pointing and mask centering (see also Refs. [36][37][38].…”

Section: Pointing Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform

Unwin

Traub

Bryden

et al. 2012

Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave

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Debris disks around nearby stars are tracers of the planet formation process, and they are a key element of our understanding of the formation and evolution of extrasolar planetary systems. With multi-color images of a significant number of disks, we can probe important questions: can we learn about planetary system evolution; what materials are the disks made of; and can they reveal the presence of planets? Most disks are known to exist only through their infrared flux excesses as measured by the Spitzer Space Telescope, and through images measured by Herschel. The brightest, most extended disks have been imaged with HST, and a few, such as Fomalhaut, can be observed using ground-based telescopes. But the number of good images is still very small, and there are none of disks with densities as low as the disk associated with the asteroid belt and EdgeworthKuiper belt in our own Solar System. Direct imaging of disks is a major observational challenge, demanding high angular resolution and extremely high dynamic range close to the parent star. The ultimate experiment requires a space-based platform, but demonstrating much of the needed technology, mitigating the technical risks of a space-based coronagraph, and performing valuable measurements of circumstellar debris disks, can be done from a high-altitude balloon platform. In this paper we present a balloon-borne telescope concept based on the Zodiac II design that could undertake compelling studies of a sample of debris disks.

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ACCESS: a concept study for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanetary systems

Cited by 28 publications

References 20 publications

A hybrid Lyot coronagraph for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanet systems: recent results and prospects

A hybrid Lyot coronagraph for the direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanet systems: recent results and prospects

Optimal apodizations for on-axis vector vortex coronagraphs

Coronagraphic imaging of debris disks from a high altitude balloon platform

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