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The Vector Vortex Coronagraph: Sensitivity to Low-Order Aberrations, Central Obscuration, Chromaticism, and PolarizationThe Vector Vortex Coronagraph is a phase-based coronagraph, one of the most efficient in terms of inner working angle, throughput, discovery space, contrast, and simplicity. Using liquid-crystal polymer technology, this new coronagraph has recently been the subject of lab demonstrations in the near-infrared, visible and was also used on sky at the Palomar observatory in the H and K bands (1.65 and 2.2 micrometers, respectively) to image the brown dwarf companion to HR 7672, and the three extasolar planets around HR 8799. However, despite these recent successes, the Vector Vortex Coronagraph is, as are most coronagraphs, sensitive to the central obscuration and secondary support structures, low-order aberrations (tip-tilt, focus, etc), bandwidth (chromaticism), and polarization when image-plane wavefront sensing is performed. Here, we consider in detail these sensitivities as a function of the topological charge of the vortex and design properties inherent to the manufacturing technology, and show that in practice all of them can be mitigated to meet specific needs.
Document ID
20150008499
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Mawet, Dimitri
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Pueyo, Laurent
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Moody, Dwight
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Krist, John
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Serabyn, Eugene
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 20, 2015
Publication Date
June 27, 2010
Subject Category
Astronomy
Instrumentation And Photography
Meeting Information
Meeting: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: June 27, 2010
End Date: July 2, 2010
Sponsors: International Society for Optical Engineering
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
large ground-based telescopes
small space-based telescopes
phase-mask coronagraphy
adaptive optics
optical vortex
large space-based telescopes
wavefront control
High contrast imaging
exoplanets
extremely large ground-based telescopes

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