A combined nulling and imaging pupil-plane beam-combiner for DARWIN

Ron P. H. Haaksman; Cor P. de Vries; Jan-Willem den Herder; L. L. A. Vosteen; Henk Bokhove; Arjan L. Mieremet

doi:10.1117/12.669167

28 June 2006 A combined nulling and imaging pupil-plane beam-combiner for DARWIN

Ron P. H. Haaksman, Cor P. de Vries, Jan-Willem den Herder, L. L. A. Vosteen, Henk Bokhove, Arjan L. Mieremet

Proceedings Volume 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry; 62682Q (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.669167
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2006, Orlando, Florida , United States

Abstract

The primary goal of DARWIN is to detect earth-like extrasolar planets and to search for biomarkers. This is achieved by means of nulling interferometry, using three free-flying telescopes and a Beam-Combiner (BC) hub. DARWIN will be able to perform astrophysical imaging with high spectral and spatial resolution. Should one of Darwin's telescope flyers fail, then Darwin's capability of detecting earth-sized exo-planets is dramatically reduced. However, with only two telescopes the imaging mode can continue operating with minimal performance degradation, thus ensuring mission success. This work describes a trade-off study between four conceptual three-beam BC's, that are capable of performing both as a nuller and as an imager. A proposed breadboard design will demonstrate end-to-end Fringe-Tracking (FT) and Optical Path-Length (OPL) control. The BC concept is based on a pupil-plane (Michelson) beam combination scheme. Pupil-plane imaging BC's offer a large overlap in terms of optical layout with the nulling BC concept, making it possible to develop a combined nulling- and imaging BC. This means that a reduced number of optical components can be used compared to a scheme with separate BC's. The BC concept inherently compensates for unequal OPL's, which in ground-based interferometers is compensated for by long stroke Optical Delay Lines (ODL's).

Citation Download Citation

Ron P. H. Haaksman, Cor P. de Vries, Jan-Willem den Herder, L. L. A. Vosteen, Henk Bokhove, and Arjan L. Mieremet "A combined nulling and imaging pupil-plane beam-combiner for DARWIN", Proc. SPIE 6268, Advances in Stellar Interferometry, 62682Q (28 June 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.669167

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available