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19 August 2009A method for modifying occulter shapes
An occulter is an instrument designed to suppress starlight by diffraction from its edges; most are designed
to be circular, with a set of identical "petals" running around the outside. Proposed space-based occulters
are lightweight, deployed screens tens of meters in diameter with challenging accuracy requirements. We
describe a general method for modifying the shape of an occulter to accommodate engineering considerations
and show how to calculate the resulting wavefront. This method can be used to place hinges and tensioning
elements between petals, to reduce tolerancing requirements by allowing gaps between petals to be moved
elsewhere, and to potentially reduce the number of petals required on an occulter.
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Eric Cady, Stuart B. Shaklan, N. Jeremy Kasdin, David Spergel, "A method for modifying occulter shapes," Proc. SPIE 7440, Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets IV, 744007 (19 August 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.826183