Fabrication Experiments On Supersmooth Optics For Extrasolar Planet Detection

C. Ftaclas; M. H. Krim; R. J. Terrile

doi:10.1117/12.955572

11 October 1989 Fabrication Experiments On Supersmooth Optics For Extrasolar Planet Detection

C. Ftaclas, M. H. Krim, R. J. Terrile

Proceedings Volume 1113, Reflective Optics II; (1989) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.955572
Event: SPIE 1989 Technical Symposium on Aerospace Sensing, 1989, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The direct detection of extrasolar planets .by imaging will require reductions in scattered and diffracted light by factors in excess of 10³ within one arcsecond of a bright source. While diffraction can be reduced by a number of approaches, small angle scatter can only be reduced by controlling mid-spatial frequency figure errors. We review the surface requirements and consider their meaning when compared to the data base of existing mirrors. We describe experiments that were successful in reducing mid-spatial frequency figure so that the scatter level was 500 times less than diffraction for a 25 cm spherical mirror.

Citation Download Citation

C. Ftaclas, M. H. Krim, and R. J. Terrile "Fabrication Experiments On Supersmooth Optics For Extrasolar Planet Detection", Proc. SPIE 1113, Reflective Optics II, (11 October 1989); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.955572

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