The high-contrast performance of an optical vortex coronagraph

David M. Palacios; G. A. Swartzlander Jr.

doi:10.1117/12.682088

31 August 2006 The high-contrast performance of an optical vortex coronagraph

David M. Palacios, G. A. Swartzlander Jr.

Proceedings Volume 6288, Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering VII; 62880B (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.682088
Event: SPIE Optics + Photonics, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The goal of the Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission is to detect and characterize Earth-like planets. Detection of these faint objects, which appear very close to their parent stars, requires a coronagraph capable of achieving better than 10^-10 starlight suppression within a few Airy rings of the stellar image. The coronagraph is also required to maintain this high stellar extinction over a 100nm spectral bandwidth. To ease requirements on the telescope, a high planet light throughput and low sensitivity to wave front aberrations are also desirable features. An optical vortex coronagraph is a promising candidate architecture, which makes use of a spiral phase plate placed in an intermediate image plane to null out the stellar signal. This architecture has the advantage of high stellar extinction, high planet light throughput, and low sensitivity to wave front aberrations. Here we report the high contrast performance of an optical vortex coronagraph limited by the manufacturability of the spiral phase plate.

Citation Download Citation

David M. Palacios and G. A. Swartzlander Jr. "The high-contrast performance of an optical vortex coronagraph", Proc. SPIE 6288, Current Developments in Lens Design and Optical Engineering VII, 62880B (31 August 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.682088

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