This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9605, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction (if any), and Conference Committee listing.

The WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph instrument takes advantage of AFTAs 2.4-meter aperture to provide novel exoplanet imaging science at approximately the same instrument cost as an Explorer mission. The AFTA coronagraph also matures direct imaging technologies to high TRL for an Exo-Earth Imager in the next decade. The coronagraph Design Reference Mission (DRM) optical design is based on the highly successful High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT), with modifications to accommodate the AFTA telescope design, service-ability, volume constraints, and the addition of an Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS). In order to optimally satisfy the three science objectives of planet imaging, planet spectral characterization and dust debris imaging, the coronagraph is designed to operate in two different modes: Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph or Shaped Pupil Coronagraph. Active mechanisms change pupil masks, focal plane masks, Lyot masks, and bandpass filters to shift between modes. A single optical beam train can thus operate alternatively as two different coronagraph architectures. Structural Thermal Optical Performance (STOP) analysis predicts the instrument contrast with the Low Order Wave Front Control loop closed. The STOP analysis was also used to verify that the optical/structural/thermal design provides the extreme stability required for planet characterization in the presence of thermal disturbances expected in a typical observing scenario. This paper describes the instrument design and the flow down from science requirements to high level engineering requirements.

The most recent concept for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Design Reference Mission (DRM) features an instrument that will perform exoplanet detection via coronagraphy of the host star. This observatory is based on the existing Astrophysics Focused Telescope Asset’s (AFTA) 2.4-meter telescope. The WFIRST/AFTA Coronagraph Instrument combines the Hybrid Lyot and Shaped Pupil Coronagraphs to meet the science requirements. The cycle 5 optical design fits the required enclosure and accommodates both coronagraphic architectures. We present the optical performance including throughput of both the imaging and the IFS channels, the wavefront error at the first pupil, and polarization effects from optical coatings.

The WFIRST/AFTA 2.4 m space telescope currently under study includes a stellar coronagraph for the imaging and spectral characterization of extrasolar planets. Based largely on performance predictions from end-to-end optical propagation modeling, promising coronagraphic methods were selected in late 2013 for further consideration for use on AFTA. Since those downselect analyses further modeling work has been done on evaluating refined coronagraph designs, wavefront sensing and control, detector representation, and time-dependent effects. Thermal, structural, ray trace, and diffraction propagation models are used in these studies. Presented here is the progress to date and plans for future analyses.

The WFIRST/AFTA 2.4 m space telescope currently under study includes a stellar coronagraph for the imaging and the spectral characterization of extrasolar planets. The coronagraph employs two sequential deformable mirrors (DMs) to compensate for phase and amplitude errors in creating dark holes. DMs are critical elements in high contrast coronagraphs, requiring precision and stability measured in picometers to enable detection of Earth-like exoplanets. Working with a low-order wavefront-sensor the DM that is conjugate to a pupil can also be used to correct low-order wavefront drift during a scientific observation. However, not all actuators in a DM have the same gain. When using such a DM in low-order wavefront sensing and control subsystem, the actuator gain calibration errors introduce highspatial frequency errors to the DM surface and thus worsen the contrast performance of the coronagraph. We have investigated the effects of actuator gain calibration errors and the actuator command digitization errors on the contrast performance of the coronagraph through modeling and simulations, and will present our results in this paper.

The only way to characterize most exoplanets spectrally is via direct imaging. For example, the Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) on the proposed Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) mission plans to image and characterize several cool gas giants around nearby stars. The integration time on these faint exoplanets will be many hours to days. A crucial assumption for mission planning is that the time required to dig a dark hole (a region of high star-to-planet contrast) with deformable mirrors is small compared to science integration time. The science camera must be used as the wavefront sensor to avoid non-common path aberrations, but this approach can be quite time intensive. Several estimation images are required to build an estimate of the starlight electric field before it can be partially corrected, and this process is repeated iteratively until high contrast is reached. Here we present simulated results of batch process and recursive wavefront estimation schemes. In particular, we test a Kalman filter and an iterative extended Kalman filter (IEKF) to reduce the total exposure time and improve the robustness of wavefront correction for the WFIRST-AFTA CGI. An IEKF or other nonlinear filter also allows recursive, real-time estimation of sources incoherent with the star, such as exoplanets and disks, and may therefore reduce detection uncertainty.

To maintain the required WFIRST Coronagraph starlight suppression performance in a realistic space environment, a low order wavefront sensing and control (LOWFS/C) subsystem is necessary. The LOWFS/C uses the rejected stellar light from coronagraph to sense and suppress the telescope pointing drift and jitter as well as the low order wavefront errors due to changes in thermal loading on the telescope and the rest of the observatory. In this paper we will present an overview of the low order wavefront sensing and control subsystem for the WFIRST Coronagraph. We will describe LOWFS/C’s Zernike wavefront sensor concept and control design, and present an overview of sensing performance analysis and modeling, predicted line-of-sight jitter suppression loop performance, as well as the low order wavefront error correction with the coronagraph’s deformable mirror. We will also report the LOWFS/C testbed design and the preliminary in-air test results, which show promising performance of the Zernike wavefront sensor and FSM feedback loop.

The baseline design for the WFIRST-AFTA Coronagraphic Instrument includes several shaped pupil masks. Our newest designs incorporate the shaped pupil into a Lyot-style architecture to access smaller inner working angles at a given tradeoff in throughput and contrast. We describe two mask configurations: a characterization mode for spectroscopy of exoplanet atmospheres, and a wider-field mode for debris disk observations. We use polychromatic contrast constraints to anchor the spatial extent of the dark search region over the instrument filter bandpass. We examine several practical issues that arise during the optimization process, such as the use of symmetry, and the choice of spatial and wavelength resolutions in the propagation model. Finally, we evaluate the tolerances of the new designs to mask translation and clocking errors.

One of the two primary architectures being tested for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph instrument is the shaped pupil coronagraph, which uses a binary aperture in a pupil plane to create localized regions of high contrast in a subsequent focal plane. The aperture shapes are determined by optimization, and can be designed to work in the presence of secondary obscurations and spiders - an important consideration for coronagraphy with WFIRST-AFTA. We present the current performance of the shaped pupil testbed, including the results of AFTA Milestone 2, in which ≈ 6 × 10^-9 contrast was achieved in three independent runs starting from a neutral setting.

The WFIRST-AFTA Coronagraph aims at forming direct images and measuring the first spectra of exoplanets in orbit around main sequence stars. An important aspect of the instrument is the ability to remove residual stellar speckles to improve the detectability of such planets. Based on detailed simulations and early laboratory tests, we present here some first estimates of the contrast gain expected from advanced post-processing treatments of AFTA-like coronagraphic images. We further discuss their impact on the overall design of the instrument, including its anticipated observing approach.

WFIRST-AFTA is a 2.4m class NASA observatory designed to address a wide range of science objectives using two complementary scientific payloads. The Wide Field Instrument (WFI) offers Hubble quality imaging over a 0.28 square degree field of view, and will gather NIR statistical data on exoplanets through gravitational microlensing. The second instrument is a high contrast coronagraph that will carry out the direct imaging and spectroscopic analysis of exoplanets, providing a means to probe the structure and composition of planetary systems. The coronagraph instrument is expected to operate in low photon flux for long integration times, meaning all noise sources must be kept to a minimum. In order to satisfy the low noise requirements, the Electron Multiplication (EM)-CCD has been baselined for both the imaging and spectrograph cameras. The EMCCD was selected in comparison with other candidates because of its low effective electronic read noise at sub-electron values with appropriate multiplication gain setting. The presence of other noise sources, however, such as thermal dark signal and Clock Induced Charge (CIC), need to be characterised and mitigated. In addition, operation within a space environment will subject the device to radiation damage that will degrade the Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) of the device throughout the mission lifetime. Here we present our latest results from pre- and post-irradiation testing of the e2v CCD201-20 BI EMCCD sensor, baselined for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph instrument. A description of the detector technology is presented, alongside considerations for operation within a space environment. The results from a room temperature irradiation are discussed in context with the nominal operating requirements of AFTA-C and future work which entails a cryogenic irradiation of the CCD201-20 is presented.

The WFIRST-AFTA (Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Asset) is a NASA space observatory. It will host two major astronomical instruments: a wide-field imager (WFI) to search for dark energy and carry out wide field near infrared (NIR) surveys, and a coronagraph instrument (CGI) to image and spectrally characterize extrasolar planets. In this paper, we discuss the work that has been carried out at JPL in advancing Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) technology to higher flight maturity, with the goal of reaching a NASA technology readiness level of 6 (TRL-6) by early-to-mid 2016. The EMCCD has been baselined for both the coronagraph's imager and integral field spectrograph (IFS) based on its sub-electron noise performance at extremely low flux levels - the regime where the AFTA CGI will operate. We present results from a study that fully characterizes the beginning of life performance of the EMCCD. We also discuss, and present initial results from, a recent radiation test campaign that was designed and carried out to mimic the conditions of the WFIRST-AFTA space environment in an L2 orbit, where we sought to assess the sensor's end of life performance, particularly degradation of its charge transfer efficiency, in addition to other parameters such as dark current, electron multiplication gain, clock induced charge and read noise.

Prototype Imaging Spectrograph for Coronagraphic Exoplanet Studies (PISCES) is a lenslet array based integral field spectrometer (IFS) designed for high contrast imaging of extrasolar planets. PISCES will be used to advance the technology readiness of the high contrast IFS baselined on the Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope/Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) coronagraph instrument. PISCES will be integrated into the high contrast imaging testbed (HCIT) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and will work with both the Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph (HLC) and the Shaped Pupil Coronagraph (SPC) configurations. We discuss why the lenslet array based IFS was selected for PISCES. We present the PISCES optical design, including the similarities and differences of lenslet based IFSs to normal spectrometers, the trade-off between a refractive design and reflective design, as well as the specific function of our pinhole mask on the back surface of the lenslet array to reduce the diffraction from the edge of the lenslets. The optical analysis, alignment plan, and mechanical design of the instrument will be discussed.

We have carried out both theoretical and experimental studies of the sensitivity of dark hole contrast to the control bandwidth and dark-hole dimensions in high-contrast broadband stellar coronagraphy. We have evaluated the performance of DM actuator solutions in the presence of occulting mask defects using one to five 2%-wide bands spanning a 10% bandpass. We have also investigated the dependence of the HCIT contrast performance on the size of dark-hole area including large dark holes formed at the Nyquist limit of the DM.

HiCAT is a high-contrast imaging testbed designed to provide complete solutions in wavefront sensing, control and starlight suppression with complex aperture telescopes. The pupil geometry of such observatories includes primary mirror segmentation, central obstruction, and spider vanes, which make the direct imaging of habitable worlds very challenging. The testbed alignment was completed in the summer of 2014, exceeding specifications with a total wavefront error of 12nm rms over a 18mm pupil. The installation of two deformable mirrors for wavefront control is to be completed in the winter of 2015. In this communication, we report on the first testbed results using a classical Lyot coronagraph. We also present the coronagraph design for HiCAT geometry, based on our recent development of Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph (APLC) with shaped-pupil type optimizations. These new APLC-type solutions using two-dimensional shaped-pupil apodizer render the system quasi-insensitive to jitter and low-order aberrations, while improving the performance in terms of inner working angle, bandpass and contrast over a classical APLC.

This paper is the fourth in the series on the technology development for the EXCEDE (EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer) mission concept, which in 2011 was selected by NASA's Explorer program for technology development (Category III). EXCEDE is a 0.7m space telescope concept operating with a Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) Coronagraph and a Deformable Mirror (DM) to create a "dark-hole" or a region of high-contrast starlight suppression at the focal plane to allow direct imaging of exoplanets. This will allow fundamental science in the form of direct detection and spatial resolution of low surface brightness circumstellar debris disks, and the direct imaging of giant planets with angular separations as close in as the habitable zone of the host star. Thus, EXCEDE can function as both a scientific and technological precursor for any mission capable of imaging exo-Earths.

Previously, we have reported experimental results on the first milestone, the demonstration of EXCEDE contrast in monochromatic light in air and more recently in vacuum. In this paper, we report on the procedure and the experimental results obtained for our second milestone demonstration of the EXCEDE starlight suppression system carried in a vacuum chamber at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center. This includes high contrast performance demonstrations at 1.2 λD, which includes a lab demonstration of 1x10^-5 median contrast between 1.2 and 2.0 λD simultaneously with 3x10^-7 median contrast between 2 and 11 λD in 10% bandwidth polychromatic light centered at 650 nm for a single-sided dark zone. The results are stable and repeatable as demonstrated by three measurement runs with DM settings set from scratch and maintained on the best 90% out of the 1000 collected frames per run. We compare reduced experimental data with simulation results from modeling experimental limits.

The key to broadband operation of the Visible Nulling Coronagraph (VNC) is achieving a condition of quasi-achromatic destructive interference between combined beams. Here we present efforts towards meeting this goal using Fresnel rhombs in each interferometric arm as orthogonally aligned half wave phase retarders. The milestone goal of the demonstration is to achieve 1 × 10−9 contrast at 2λ/D over a 40 nm bandpass centered at 633 nm. Rhombs have been designed and fabricated, and a multi-step approach to alignment using coarse positioners for each rhomb and pair has been developed to get within range of piezo stages used for fine positioning. The previously demonstrated narrowband VNC sensing and control approach that uses a segmented deformable mirror is being adapted to broadband to include fine positioning of the piezo-mounted rhombs, all demonstrated in a low-pressure environment.

Star light suppression technologies to find and characterize faint exoplanets include internal coronagraph instruments as well as external star shade occulters. Currently, the NASA WFIRST-AFTA mission study includes an internal coronagraph instrument to find and characterize exoplanets. Various types of masks could be employed to suppress the host star light to about 10^-9 level contrast over a broad spectrum to enable the coronagraph mission objectives. Such masks for high contrast internal coronagraphic imaging require various fabrication technologies to meet a wide range of specifications, including precise shapes, micron scale island features, ultra-low reflectivity regions, uniformity, wave front quality, achromaticity, etc. We present the approaches employed at JPL to produce pupil plane and image plane coronagraph masks by combining electron beam, deep reactive ion etching, and black silicon technologies with illustrative examples of each, highlighting milestone accomplishments from the High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) at JPL and from the High Contrast Imaging Lab (HCIL) at Princeton University. We also present briefly the technologies applied to fabricate laboratory scale star shade masks.

As the performance of coronagraphs improves, the achievable contrast is more and more dependent of the shape of the pupil. The future generation of space and ground based coronagraphic instruments will have to achieve high contrast levels on on-axis and/or segmented telescopes. To correct for the high amplitude aberrations introduced by secondary mirror structures and segmentation of the primary mirror, we explore a two deformable mirror (DM) method. The major difficulty of several DM methods is the non-linear relation linking actuator strokes to the point spread function in the coronagraph focal plane. The Active Compensation of Aperture Discontinuities (ACAD) method is achieving this minimization by solving a non linear differential Monge Ampere equation. Once this open loop method have reached the minimum, a close-loop stroke minimization method can be applied to correct for phase and amplitude aberrations to achieve the ultimate contrast. In this paper, I describe the results of the parametric analysis that that I have undertaken on this method. After recalling the principle of the method, I will described the explored parameter space (deformable mirror set-up, shape of the pupil, bandwidth, coronagraph designs). I will precisely described the way I simulated the Vortex coronagraph for this numerical simulation. Finally I will present the preliminary results of this parametric analysis for space telescope pupils only.

We review the design, performance, and future prospects for the Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph (HLC) on the WFIRSTAFTA telescope. Together with a pair of deformable mirrors for active wavefront control, the HLC creates high contrast dark fields of view at 10^-9 contrast levels, extending to within angular separations of 3 λ₀/D from the central star, over spectral bandwidths of 10% or more.

Usage of an internal coronagraph with an adaptive optical system for wavefront correction for direct imaging of exoplanets is currently being considered for many mission concepts, including as an instrument addition to the WFIRST-AFTA mission to follow the James Web Space Telescope. The main technical challenge associated with direct imaging of exoplanets with an internal coronagraph is to effectively control both the diffraction and scattered light from the star so that the dim planetary companion can be seen. For the deformable mirror (DM) to recover a dark hole region with sufficiently high contrast in the image plane, wavefront errors are usually estimated using probes on the DM. To date, most broadband lab demonstrations use narrowband filters to estimate the chromaticity of the wavefront error, but this reduces the photon flux per filter and requires a filter system. Here, we propose a method to estimate the chromaticity of wavefront errors using only a broadband image. This is achieved by using special DM probes that have sufficient chromatic diversity. As a case example, we simulate the retrieval of the spectrum of the central wavelength from broadband images for a simple shaped- pupil coronagraph with a conjugate DM and compute the resulting estimation error.

“Are we alone in the Universe?” is probably the most compelling science question of our generation. To answer it requires a large aperture telescope with extreme wavefront stability. To image and characterize Earth-like planets requires the ability to block 10¹⁰ of the host star’s light with a 10^-11 stability. For an internal coronagraph, this requires correcting wavefront errors and keeping that correction stable to a few picometers rms for the duration of the science observation. This requirement places severe specifications upon the performance of the observatory, telescope and primary mirror. A key task of the AMTD project (initiated in FY12) is to define telescope level specifications traceable to science requirements and flow those specifications to the primary mirror. From a systems perspective, probably the most important question is: What is the telescope wavefront stability specification? Previously, we suggested this specification should be 10 picometers per 10 minutes; considered issues of how this specification relates to architecture, i.e. monolithic or segmented primary mirror; and asked whether it was better to have few or many segments. This paper reviews the 10 picometers per 10 minutes specification; provides analysis related to the application of this specification to segmented apertures; and suggests that a 3 or 4 ring segmented aperture is more sensitive to segment rigid body motion that an aperture with fewer or more segments.

Post-processing is a key step in the extraction of exoplanet signals from direct imaging data. Multiple currently employed techniques (including all variations on principal component analysis and singular value decomposition) belong to a general class of algorithms called Blind Source Separation (BSS). Here we demonstrate two other BSS algorithms that have previously not been tested on exoplanet imaging data: independent component analysis and common spatial pattern filtering. We utilize synthetic data with known signals to evaluate the performance of these techniques and discuss the relative strengths of each approach as a function of the correlation and relative magnitude of various noise sources commonly found in exoplanet imaging data.

Direct detection and characterization of mature giant or sub-Neptunes exoplanets in the visible require space-based instruments optimized for high-contrast imaging with contrasts of 10^-9. In this context, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope - Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) will reach raw contrasts of about 8×10^-9 to 10^-9 using state-of-the-art starlight suppression and wavefront control techniques. A ten-fold contrast improvement is therefore expected using post-processing techniques to reduce the speckle noise level to a factor of at least 10 lower in order to distinguish 10^-9 planets from speckles. Point spread function (PSF) subtractions have been successfully applied to ground-based and space-based data with contrasts up to 10^-6 but performance has yet to be demonstrated at higher contrast levels. We use both a classical PSF subtraction and the Karunhen-Loéve Image Projection (KLIP) algorithm to reduce noise free WFIRST-AFTA-like simulated images in the context of reference star differential imaging (RDI). The two WFIRST-AFTA baseline coronagraphs are considered for this study: the hybrid lyot coronagraph (HLC) for the imaging channel and the shaped-pupil coronagraph (SPC) for the integral field spectrograph channel (IFS). The two reduction methods are compared with respect to the amount and stability of the aberrations for detection in the imaging channel and preliminary spectra extractions are performed for characterization in the IFS channel.

"Exo-C" is NASAs first community study of a modest aperture space telescope mission that is optimized for high contrast observations of exoplanetary systems. The mission will be capable of taking optical spectra of nearby exoplanets in reflected light, discovering previously undetected planets, and imaging structure in a large sample of circumstellar disks. It will obtain unique science results on planets down to super-Earth sizes and serve as a technology pathfinder toward an eventual flagship-class mission to find and characterize habitable Earth-like exoplanets. We present the mission/payload design and highlight steps to reduce mission cost/risk relative to previous mission concepts. Key elements are an unobscured telescope aperture, an internal coronagraph with deformable mirrors for precise wavefront control, and an orbit and observatory design chosen for high thermal stability. Exo-C has a similar telescope aperture, orbit, lifetime, and spacecraft bus requirements to the highly successful Kepler mission (which is our cost reference). Much of the needed technology development is being pursued under the WFIRST coronagraph study and would support a mission start in 2017, should NASA decide to proceed. This paper summarizes the study final report completed in March 2015.

The Exoplanet Coronagraph (Exo-C) mission concept consists of a 1.4m space telescope equipped with a high performance coronagraph to directly image exoplanets and disks around many nearby stars. One of the coronagraphs under consideration to be used for this mission is the highly efficient Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph. This paper presents and describes: (a) the PIAA design for Exo-C; (b) an end-to-end performance analysis including sensitivity to jitter, and (c) the expected science yield of Exo-C with PIAA. The design is a “classic” PIAA, which is made possible by the unobstructed aperture. It consists of a pair of forward and inverse PIAA optics and a simple hard-edge focal plane mask. A mild binary pre-apodizer relaxes the radius of curvature on the PIAA mirrors to be easier than typical PIAA mirrors manufactured to date. This design has been optimized for high performance while being relatively insensitive to low order aberrations. The throughput is 90% relative to telescope PSF, while the inner working angle is 2.1 l/D and the contrast is ~1e-9 in a full 360-degree field of view (after wavefront control with two DMs), all for a 20% spectral band centered around 550nm. The design also has good tolerance to jitter: contrast at 1.6mas jitter is still within a factor of a few of 1e-9.

Exo-S is a direct imaging space-based mission to discover and characterize exoplanets. With its modest size, Exo-S bridges the gap between census missions like Kepler and a future space-based flagship direct imaging exoplanet mission. With the ability to reach down to Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of nearly two dozen nearby stars, Exo-S is a powerful first step in the search for and identification of Earth-like planets. Compelling science can be returned at the same time as the technological and scientific framework is developed for a larger flagship mission. The Exo-S Science and Technology Definition Team studied two viable starshade-telescope missions for exoplanet direct imaging, targeted to the $1B cost guideline. The first Exo-S mission concept is a starshade and telescope system dedicated to each other for the sole purpose of direct imaging for exoplanets (The "Starshade Dedicated Mission"). The starshade and commercial, 1.1-m diameter telescope co-launch, sharing the same low-cost launch vehicle, conserving cost. The Dedicated mission orbits in a heliocentric, Earth leading, Earth-drift away orbit. The telescope has a conventional instrument package that includes the planet camera, a basic spectrometer, and a guide camera. The second Exo-S mission concept is a starshade that launches separately to rendezvous with an existing on-orbit space telescope (the "Starshade Rendezvous Mission"). The existing telescope adopted for the study is the WFIRST-AFTA (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope Astrophysics Focused Telescope Asset). The WFIRST-AFTA 2.4-m telescope is assumed to have previously launched to a Halo orbit about the Earth-Sun L2 point, away from the gravity gradient of Earth orbit which is unsuitable for formation flying of the starshade and telescope. The impact on WFIRST-AFTA for starshade readiness is minimized; the existing coronagraph instrument performs as the starshade science instrument, while formation guidance is handled by the existing coronagraph focal planes with minimal modification and an added transceiver.

In conjunction with a space telescope of modest size, a starshade enables observation of small exoplanets close to the parent star by blocking the direct starlight while the planet light remains unobscured. The starshade is flown some tens of thousands of kilometers ahead of the telescope. Science instruments may include a wide field camera for imaging the target exoplanetary system as well as an integral field spectrometer for characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. We show the preliminary designs of the optical instruments for observatories such as Exo-S, discuss formation flying and control, retargeting maneuvers and other aspects of a starshade mission. The implementation of a starshade-ready WFIRST-AFTA is discussed and we show how a compact, standalone instrument package could be developed as an add-on to future space telescopes, requiring only minor additions to the telescope spacecraft.

Exo-S is a direct imaging space-based mission to discover and characterize exoplanets. The mission is comprised of two formation-flying spacecraft – a starlight suppressing starshade and a telescope separated by ~30,000 km. To align the starshade between the target star and telescope, one of the two spacecraft must perform a retargeting slew. This drives the need for a sophisticated program to help optimize this path to maximize target yield within mission constraints such as solar and earth avoidance angles, thrust and fuel limitations, and target scheduling for previously-discovered known giant planets. The Design Reference Mission (DRM) describes the sequence of observations to be performed and estimates the number of planets that will be detected and characterized. It is executed with a Matlab-based tool developed for the Exo-S Study. Here we analyze four case studies:

• Case 1: Starshade with a 1.1m dedicated telescope prioritizing the search for earths in the Habitable Zone (HZ).

• Case 2: Starshade with a 1.1m dedicated telescope focused on maximizing planet harvest return and characterization.

• Case 3: Starshade that rendezvous with a 2.4 m shared telescope prioritizing the search for earths in the HZ.

• Case 4: A Rendezvous Earth Finder mission based on a 40-m diameter starshade with a 2.4 m telescope, operating for 4 years, and focused exclusively on detecting Earths in the HZ

Previous starshade DRM tools have been reported in the literature, all of them focused on detection and/or characterization of Earth-twins in the habitable zone. This study has taken then next step and focused on total planet harvest including known Gas Giants, Earths in the Habitable Zone and elsewhere, super-earths, sub-Neptunes, and Jupiters. The DRM employs a hierarchical approach: an observation schedule of known radial velocity gas giants, whose availabilities for observation are known form their orbital parameters, forms a "framework" of observation that have a high probability of success. Between these observations, the next highest priority stars are scheduled and these in turn form the framework for the next observational tier. We report the expected observational completeness, planet yields, and planet characterizations for the three case studies.

Exo-S is a probe-class mission study that includes the Dedicated mission, a 30 m starshade co-launched with a 1.1 m commercial telescope in an Earth-leading deep-space orbit, and the Rendezvous mission, a 34 m starshade intended to work with a 2.4 m telescope in an Earth-Sun L2 orbit. A third design, referred to as the Rendezvous Earth Finder mission, is based on a 40 m starshade and is currently under study. This paper presents error budgets for the detection of Earth-like planets with each of these missions. The budgets include manufacture and deployment tolerances, the allowed thermal fluctuations and dynamic motions, formation flying alignment requirements, surface and edge reflectivity requirements, and the allowed transmission due to micrometeoroid damage.

One of the main candidates for creating high-contrast for future Exo-Earth detection is an external occulter or sharshade. A starshade blocks the light from the parent star by flying in formation along the line-of-sight from a space telescope. Because of its large size and scale it is impossible to fully test a starshade system on the ground before launch. Instead, we rely on modeling supported by subscale laboratory tests to verify the models. At Princeton, we are designing and building a subscale testbed to verify the suppression and contrast of a starshade at the same Fresnel number as a flight system, and thus mathematically identical to a realistic space mission. Here we present the mechanical design of the testbed and simulations predicting the ultimate contrast performance. We will also present progress in implementation and preliminary results.

Space-borne nulling interferometers have long been considered as the best option for searching and characterizing extrasolar planets located in the habitable zone of their parent stars. Solutions for achieving deep starlight extinction are now numerous and well demonstrated. However they essentially aim at realizing an achromatic central null in order to extinguish the star. In this communication is described a major improvement of the technique, where the achromatization process is extended to the entire fringe pattern. Therefore higher Signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and appreciable simplification of the detection system should result. The basic principle of this Fully achromatic nulling interferometer (FANI) consists in inserting dispersive elements along the arms of the interferometer. Herein this principle is explained and illustrated by a preliminary optical system design. The typical achievable performance and limitations are discussed and some initial tolerance requirements are also provided.

Distributed occulter/telescope systems hold great promise in the field of direct exoplanet imaging. However, proposed missions using this concept such as the New Worlds Observer or Exo-S (NASA) are exceptionally large with occulter diameters of tens of meters and inter-spacecraft separations of tens of megameters, requiring deployment in deep space. The estimated costs associated with these missions are in the billions of dollars. In order to reduce the risk associated with these missions, it is desirable to first deploy a low-cost technology demonstrator mission to prove that the distributed occulter telescope concept is valid. To that end, this work assesses the feasibility of miniaturizing the optics of the distributed occulter/telescope to enable deployment on micro- or nano-satellites in earth orbit. A variant of the convex optimization formulation introduced by previous authors is used to generate a pareto-optimal characterization between the achievable occulter contrast and a set of critical design variables (occulter radius, inner working angle, science spectrum, etc). This characterization is performed for two different sets of engineering constraints, corresponding to different levels of design complexity. The results of this study are compared to the performance requirements for imaging targets of scientific interest, namely exozodiacal dust disks, in order to identify promising design envelopes. The result of this work is a comprehensive trade of the capabilities of miniaturized, binary, petal-shaped occulters. This research demonstrates that there exist miniaturized occulter geometries compatible with micro- or nano-satellites in earth orbit suitable for imaging exozodiacal dust disks. In addition, this study provides a valuable methodology and performance guidelines for future distributed occulter/telescope designs.

This paper discusses charge blooming and starlight saturation – two potential technical problems – when using an Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Device (EMCCD) type detector in a high-contrast instrument for imaging exoplanets. These problems especially affect an interferometric type coronagraph – coronagraphs that do not use a mask to physically block starlight in the science channel of the instrument. These problems are presented using images taken with a commercial Princeton Instrument EMCCD camera in the Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC), Interferometric Coronagraph facility. In addition, this paper discusses techniques to overcome such problems. This paper also discusses the development and architecture of a Field Programmable Gate Array and Digital-to-Analog Converter based shaped clock controller for a photon-counting EMCCD camera. The discussion contained here will inform high-contrast imaging groups in their work with EMCCD detectors.

The scientific interest in directly imaging and identifying Earth-like planets within the Habitable Zone (HZ) around nearby stars is driving the design of specialized direct imaging missions such as ACESAT, EXO-C, EXO-S and AFTA-C. The inner edge of Alpha Cen A and B Habitable Zone is found at exceptionally large angular separations of 0.7” and 0.4” respectively. This enables direct imaging of the system with a 0.3m class telescope. Contrast ratios on the order of 10¹⁰ are needed to image Earth-brightness planets. Low-resolution (5-band) spectra of all planets may allow establishing the presence and amount of an atmosphere. This star system configuration is optimal for a specialized small, and stable space telescope that can achieve high-contrast but has limited resolution. This paper describes an innovative instrument design and a mission concept based on a full Silicon Carbide off-axis telescope, which has a Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization coronagraph embedded in the telescope. This architecture maximizes stability and throughput. A Multi-Star Wave Front algorithm is implemented to drive a deformable mirror controlling simultaneously diffracted light from the on-axis and binary companion star. The instrument has a Focal Plane Occulter to reject starlight into a highprecision pointing control camera. Finally we utilize a Orbital Differential Imaging (ODI) post-processing method that takes advantage of a highly stable environment (Earth-trailing orbit) and a continuous sequence of images spanning 2 years, to reduce the final noise floor in post processing to ~2e-11 levels, enabling high confidence and at least 90% completeness detections of Earth-like planets.

Several mission concepts are being studied to directly image planets around nearby stars. It is commonly thought that directly imaging a potentially habitable exoplanet around a Sun-like star requires space telescopes with apertures of at least 1m. A notable exception to this is Alpha Centauri (A and B), which is an extreme outlier among FGKM stars in terms of apparent habitable zone size: the habitable zones are ~3x wider in apparent size than around any other FGKM star. This enables a ~30-45cm visible light space telescope equipped with a modern high performance coronagraph or starshade to resolve the habitable zone at high contrast and directly image any potentially habitable planet that may exist in the system. We presents a brief analysis of the astrophysical and technical challenges involved with direct imaging of Alpha Centauri with a small telescope and describe two new technologies that address some of the key technical challenges. In particular, the raw contrast requirements for such an instrument can be relaxed to 1e-8 if the mission spends 2 years collecting tens of thousands of images on the same target, enabling a factor of 500-1000 speckle suppression in post processing using a new technique called Orbital Difference Imaging (ODI). The raw light leak from both stars is controllable with a special wavefront control algorithm known as Multi-Star Wavefront Control (MSWC), which independently suppresses diffraction and aberrations from both stars using independent modes on the deformable mirror. We also show an example of a small coronagraphic mission concept to take advantage of this opportunity.

Current post-processing techniques in high contrast imaging depend on some source of diversity between the exoplanet signal and the residual star light at that location. The two main techniques are angular differential imaging (ADI), which makes use of parallactic sky rotation to separate planet from star light, and spectral differential imaging (SDI), which makes use of differences in the spectrum of planet and star light and the wavelength dependence of the point spread function (PSF). Here we introduce our technique for exploiting another source of diversity: orbital motion. Given repeated observations of an exoplanetary system with sufficiently short orbital periods, the motion of the planets allows us to discriminate them from the PSF. In addition to using powerful PSF subtraction algorithms, such an observing strategy enables temporal filtering. Once an orbit is determined, the planet can be "de-orbited" to further increase the signal-to-noise ratio. We call this collection of techniques Orbital Differential Imaging (ODI). Here we present the motivation for this technique, present a noise model, and present results from simulations. We believe ODI will be an enabling technique for imaging Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars with dedicated space missions.

The PICTURE-C mission will fly a 60 cm off-axis unobscured telescope and two high-contrast coronagraphs in successive high-altitude balloon flights with the goal of directly imaging and spectrally characterizing visible scattered light from exozodiacal dust in the interior 1-10 AU of nearby exoplanetary systems. The first flight in 2017 will use a 10^-4 visible nulling coronagraph (previously flown on the PICTURE sounding rocket) and the second flight in 2019 will use a 10^-7 vector vortex coronagraph. A low-order wavefront corrector (LOWC) will be used in both flights to remove time-varying aberrations from the coronagraph wavefront. The LOWC actuator is a 76-channel high-stroke deformable mirror packaged on top of a tip-tilt stage. This paper will detail the selection of a complementary high-speed, low-order wavefront sensor (LOWFS) for the mission. The relative performance and feasibility of several LOWFS designs will be compared including the Shack-Hartmann, Lyot LOWFS, and the curvature sensor. To test the different sensors, a model of the time-varying wavefront is constructed using measured pointing data and inertial dynamics models to simulate optical alignment perturbations and surface deformation in the balloon environment.

We describe a set of numerical approaches to modeling the performance of space flight high-contrast imaging payloads. Mission design for high-contrast imaging requires numerical wavefront error propagation to ensure accurate component specifications. For constructed instruments, wavelength and angle-dependent throughput and contrast models allow detailed simulations of science observations, allowing mission planners to select the most productive science targets. The PICTURE family of missions seek to quantify the optical brightness of scattered light from extrasolar debris disks via several high-contrast imaging techniques: sounding rocket (the Planet Imaging Concept Testbed Using a Rocket Experiment) and balloon flights of a visible nulling coronagraph, as well as a balloon flight of a vector vortex coronagraph (the Planetary Imaging Concept Testbed Using a Recoverable Experiment - Coronagraph, PICTURE-C). The rocket mission employs an on-axis 0.5m Gregorian telescope, while the balloon flights will share an unobstructed off-axis 0.6m Gregorian. This work details the flexible approach to polychromatic, end-to-end physical optics simulations used for both the balloon vector vortex coronagraph and rocket visible nulling coronagraph missions. We show the preliminary PICTURE-C telescope and vector vortex coronagraph design will achieve 10^-8 contrast without post-processing as limited by realistic optics, but not considering polarization or low-order errors. Simulated science observations of the predicted warm ring around Epsilon Eridani illustrate the performance of both missions.

The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) is a joint ESA-Switzerland space mission dedicated to the search for exoplanet photometric transits. Its launch readiness is expected at the end of 2017. The CHEOPS instrument will be the first space telescope dedicated to search for transits on bright stars already known to host planets. By being able to point at nearly any location on the sky, it will provide the unique capability of determining accurate radii for a subset of those planets for which the mass has already been estimated from ground-based spectroscopic surveys. To reach its goals CHEOPS will measure photometric signals with a precision of 20 ppm in 6 hours of integration time for a 9th magnitude star. This corresponds to a signal-to-noise ratio of 5 for a transit of an Earth-sized planet orbiting a solar-sized star. Achieving the precision goal requires thorough post-processing of the data acquired by the CHEOPS' instrument system (CIS) in order to remove as much as possible the instrument's signature. To this purpose, a rigorous calibration campaign will be conducted after the CIS tests in order to measure, its behavior under the different environmental conditions. The main tool of this calibration campaign is a custom-made calibration system that will inject a stimulus beam in the CIS and measure its response to the variation of electrical and environmental parameters. These variations will be compiled in a correction model. Ultimately, the CIS photometric performance will be measured on an artificial star, applying the correction model This paper addresses the requirements applicable to the calibration system, its design and its design performance.

The Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS) is an integral field spectrograph (IFS) being built for the Subaru telescope. CHARIS will take spectra of brown dwarfs and hot Jovian planets in the coronagraphic image provided by the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) and AO188 adaptive optics systems.^{1, 2} The system is designed to detect objects five orders of magnitude dimmer than their parent star down to an 80 milliarcsecond inner working angle. For characterization, CHARIS has a high-resolution prism providing an average spectral resolution of R82, R69, and R82 in J, H, and K bands respectively. The so-called discovery mode uses a second low-resolution prism with an average spectral resolution of R19 spanning 1.15-2.37 microns (J+H+K bands). This is unique compared to other high contrast IFS designs. It augments low inner working angle performance by reducing the separation at which we can rely on spectral differential imaging. The principal challenge for a high-contrast IFS is quasi-static speckles, which cause undue levels of spectral crosstalk. CHARIS has addressed this through several key design aspects that should constrain crosstalk between adjacent spectral features to be below 1%. Sitting on the Nasmyth platform, the alignment between the lenslet array, prism, and detector will be highly stable, key for the performance of the data pipeline. Nearly every component has arrived and the project is entering its final build phase. Here we review the science case, the resulting design, status of final construction, and lessons learned that are directly applicable to future exoplanet instruments.

Integral field spectrographs are an important technology for exoplanet imaging, due to their ability to take spectra in a high-contrast environment, and improve planet detection sensitivity through spectral differential imaging. ALES is the first integral field spectrograph capable of imaging exoplanets from 3-5 μm, and will extend our ability to characterize self-luminous exoplanets into a wavelength range where they peak in brightness. ALES is installed inside LBTI/LMIRcam on the Large Binocular Telescope, taking advantage of existing AO systems, camera optics, and a HAWAII-2RG detector. The new optics that comprise ALES are a Keplerian magnifier, a silicon lenslet array with diffraction suppressing pinholes, a direct vision prism, and calibration optics. All of these components are installed in filter wheels making ALES a completely modular design. ALES saw first light at the LBT in June 2015.

The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) is a strategic instrument of the LBT designed for highsensitivity, high-contrast, and high-resolution infrared (1.5-13 μm) imaging of nearby planetary systems. To carry out a wide range of high-spatial resolution observations, it can combine the two AO-corrected 8.4-m apertures of the LBT in various ways including direct (non-interferometric) imaging, coronagraphy (APP and AGPM), Fizeau imaging, non-redundant aperture masking, and nulling interferometry. It also has broadband, narrowband, and spectrally dispersed capabilities. In this paper, we review the performance of these modes in terms of exoplanet science capabilities and describe recent instrumental milestones such as first-light Fizeau images (with the angular resolution of an equivalent 22.8-m telescope) and deep interferometric nulling observations.

We present methods for optimizing pupil and focal plane optical elements that improve the performance of vortex coronagraphs on telescopes with obstructed or segmented apertures. Phase-only and complex masks are designed for the entrance pupil, focal plane, and the plane of the Lyot stop. Optimal masks are obtained using both analytical and numerical methods. The latter makes use of an iterative error reduction algorithm to calculate "correcting" optics that mitigate unwanted diffraction from aperture obstructions. We analyze the achieved performance in terms of starlight suppression, contrast, off-axis image quality, and chromatic dependence. Manufacturing considerations and sensitivity to aberrations are also discussed. This work provides a path to joint optimization of multiple coronagraph planes to maximize sensitivity to exoplanets and other faint companions.

The Annular Groove Phase Mask (AGPM) is a vectorial vortex phase mask. It acts as a half-wave plate with a radial fast axis orientation operating in the mid infrared domain. When placed at the focus of a telescope element provides a continuous helical phase ramp for an on axis sources, which creates the orbital angular momentum. Thanks to that phase, the intensity of the central source is canceled by a down-stream pupil stop, while the off axis sources are not affected. However due to experimental conditions the nulling is hardly perfect. To improve the null, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer containing Dove prisms differently oriented can be proposed to sort out light based on its orbital angular momentum (OAM). Thanks to the differential rotation of the beam, a π phase shift is achieved for the on axis light affected by a non zero OAM. Therefore the contrast between the star and its faint companion is enhanced. Nevertheless, due the Dove prisms birefringence, the performance of the interferometer is relatively poor. To solve this problem, we propose to add a birefringent wave-plate in each arm to compensate this birefringence. In this paper, we will develop the mathematical model of the wave front using the Jones formalism. The performance of the interferometer is at first computed for the simple version without the birefringent plate. Then the effect of the birefringent plate is be mathematically described and the performance is re-computed.

The ExTrA facility, located at La Silla observatory, will consist of a near-infrared multi-object spectrograph fed by three 60-cm telescopes. ExTrA will add the spectroscopic resolution to the traditional differential photometry method. This shall enable the fine correction of color-dependent systematics that would otherwise hinder ground-based observations. With both this novel method and an infrared-enabled efficiency, ExTrA aims to find transiting telluric planets orbiting in the habitable zone of bright nearby M dwarfs. It shall have the versatility to do so by running its own independent survey and also by concurrently following-up on the space candidates unveiled by K2 and TESS. The exoplanets detected by ExTrA will be amenable to atmospheric characterisation with VLTs, JWST, and ELTs and could give our first peek into an exo-life laboratory.

The ALICE program, for Archival Legacy Investigation of Circumstellar Environment, is currently conducting a virtual survey of about 400 stars, by re-analyzing the HST-NICMOS coronagraphic archive with advanced post-processing techniques. We present here the strategy that we adopted to identify detections and potential candidates for follow-up observations, and we give a preliminary overview of our detections. We present a statistical analysis conducted to evaluate the confidence level on these detection and the completeness of our candidate search.

SPIRou is a near-IR (0.98-2.35μm), echelle spectropolarimeter / high precision velocimeter being designed as a nextgeneration instrument for the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, with the main goal of detecting Earth-like planets around low mass stars and magnetic fields of forming stars. The SPIRou science fibers, which connect the polarimeter unit to the cryogenic spectrograph unit (35 meter apart), emit an undesirable thermal flux into the spectrograph, due to their intrinsic absorption. This may degrade the signal to noise ratio and then the sensitivity of the instrument for the reddest wavelengths. For verifying the calculation model used to predict the thermal emission from the SPIRou science fibers, a test bench is set-up at LESIA (Observatory of Paris). In this paper, the experimental approach to measure the thermal emission from a 30 meter long fluoride fiber @3μm is described. Experimental results are then compared to those predicted by the theoretical model.

After successful operation at the Calar Alto telescope until 2009, and extensive lab tests at the Munich University Observatory the high resolution Échelle spectrograph FOCES (Fiber Optics Cassegrain Échelle Spectrograph) is now about to be reinstalled at the 2 m Wendelstein Observatory in the German Alps. For this new phase of operation FOCES will be equipped with new components that will improve time stability and wavelength calibration. With these modifications FOCES will meet the requirements for performing precision radial velocity measurements on a competitive level.

One of the key features of the upgraded spectrograph is the new calibration system, which uses a laser frequency comb as reference light source. Another aspect is the possibility to perform simultaneous wavelength calibration, while recording science data. For this purpose a new 4-fiber slit has been developed, which opens up the possibility to feed light from different sources at the same time through the entrance slit of the spectrograph. We present a detailed characterization of this new device, based on the results of extensive lab tests performed at the Munich University Observatory.

The testing of photometers and in particular the testing of high precision photometers for the detection of planetary transits requires a light source which photometric stability is to par or better than the goal stability of the photometer to be tested. In the frame of the CHEOPS mission, a comprehensive calibration bench has been developed. Aside from measuring the sensibility of the CHEOPS payload to the different environmental conditions, this bench will also be used to test the relative accuracy of the payload. A key element of this bench is an extremely stable light source that is used to create an artificial star which is then projected into the payload's telescope. We present here the development of this payload and the performance achieved.

Existing planet-finding spectrometers are limited by systematic errors that result from their seeing-limited design. Of particular concern is the use of multi-mode fibers (MMFs), which introduce modal noise and accept significant amounts of background radiation from the sky. We present the design of a single-mode fiber-based acquisition camera for a diffraction-limited spectrometer named “iLocater." By using the “extreme" adaptive optics (AO) system of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), iLocater will overcome the limitations that prevent Doppler instruments from reaching their full potential, allowing precise radial velocity (RV) measurements of terrestrial planets around nearby bright stars. The instrument presented in this paper, which we refer to as the acquisition camera “demonstration system," will measure on-sky single-mode fiber (SMF) coupling efficiency using one of the 8.4m primaries of the LBT in fall 2015.

Phase-mask coronagraph holds the ability to detect exoplanets very close to their parent star. We report a new kind of phase mask that performs the contrast ratio of more than the tenth power of 10 for a circular aperture with shades of a secondary mirror and spiders. The phase distribution of the phase mask is numerically obtained by making the leaked light distribute outside the transparent part of the pupil. We applied the hybrid input-output algorithm, one of phase retrieval methods, to find the phase distribution of the phase mask. We show the characteristics of thus obtained phase mask.

A high contrast is required for direct imaging of exoplanets. Ideally, the level of contrast required for direct imaging of exoplanets can be achieved by coronagraphic imaging, but in practice, the contrast is degraded by wavefront aberrations. To achieve the required contrast, low-order wavefront aberrations such as tip-tilt, defocus and coma must be determined and corrected. In this paper, we present a technique that integrates a sparse- aperture mask (SAM) with a shaped pupil coronagraph (SPC) to make precise estimates of these low-order aberrations. Starlight rejected by the coronagraph's focal plane stop is collimated to a relay pupil, where the mask forms an interference fringe pattern on a detector. Using numerical simulations, we show that the SAM can estimate rapidly varying tip-tilt errors in space telescopes arising from line-of-sight pointing oscillations as well as other higher-order modes. We also show that a Kalman filter can be used with the SAM to improve the estimation. At Princetons High Contrast Imaging Laboratory, we have recently created a testbed devoted to low-order wavefront sensing experiments. The testbed incorporates custom-fabricated masks (shaped pupil, focal plane, and sparse aperture) with a deformable mirror and a CCD camera to demonstrate the estimation and correction of low-order aberrations. Our first experiments aim to replicate the results of the SAM wavefront sensor (SAM WFS) Fourier propagation models.

Deformable Mirrors (DMs) are critical elements in high contrast coronagraphs, requiring precision and stability measured in picometers to enable detection of Earth-like exoplanets. Occasionally DM actuators or their associated cables or electronics fail, requiring a wavefront control algorithm to compensate for actuators that may be displaced from their neighbors by hundreds of nanometers. We have carried out experiments on our High-Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) to study the impact of failed actuators in partial fulfilment of the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph optical model validation milestone. We show that the wavefront control algorithm adapts to several broken actuators and maintains dark-hole contrast in broadband light.

The Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization Complex Mask Coronagraph (PIAACMC) provides an efficient way to control diffraction propagation effects caused by the central obstruction/segmented mirrors of the telescope. PIAACMC can be optimized in a way that takes into account both chromatic diffraction effects caused by the telescope obstructed aperture and tip/tilt sensitivity of the coronagraph. As a result, unlike classic PIAA, the PIAACMC mirror shapes are often slightly asymmetric even for an on-axis configuration and require more care in calculating off-axis shapes when an off-axis configuration is preferred. A method to design off-axis PIAA mirror shapes given an on-axis mirror design is presented. The algorithm is based on geometrical ray tracing and is able to calculate off-axis PIAA mirror shapes for an arbitrary geometry of the input and output beams. The method is demonstrated using the third generation PIAACMC design for WFIRST-AFTA telescope. Geometrical optics design issues related to the off-axis diffraction propagation effects are also discussed.

The PISCES (Prototype Imaging Spectrograph for Coronagraphic Exoplanet Studies) is a lenslet array based integral field spectrograph (IFS) designed to advance the technology readiness of the WFIRST-AFTA high contrast Coronagraph Instrument. We present the end to end optical simulator and plans for the data reduction pipeline (DRP). The optical simulator was created with a combination of the IDL-based PROPER library and Zemax, while the data reduction pipeline is a modified version of the Gemini Planet Imager's (GPI) IDL pipeline. The simulations of the propagation of light through the instrument are based on Fourier transform algorithms. The DRP enables transformation of the PISCES IFS data to calibrated spectral data cubes.

The success of a space-borne direct-imaging mission pursuing earth-sized exoplanets in the habitable zone hinges on the ability to achieve high contrast over a maximum field of view. Coronagraphic instruments designed to address this challenge suffer from optical aberrations and rely on focal-plane wavefront control to suppress the resulting speckles and widen the search area. Even small-featured quasi-static speckles--which may obscure or be confused with a planet--must be suppressed to the order of 10^-10 over the search region, placing extreme demands on the deformable mirrors (DMs) used to implement the closed-loop control, both in wavefront requirements and actuation resolution. The ideal DM for focal-plane wavefront control has high surface quality and is capable of high-precision, low-stroke actuation. Conventional mirror technologies such as MEMS DMs, with heritage in ground-based adaptive optics instruments that correct for dynamic atmosphere-induced aberrations, are nominally at and provide high-stroke, high-resolution control but at a cost of precision and surface quality. We present a new technology currently under development at Princeton, which features a ferrofluid-supported optical surface with local magnetic actuation. The actuation is transferred to the optical surface through a liquid medium which continuously supports it, decoupling the nominal surface profile from the actuator configuration and eliminating quilting. Additionally, the device carries tunable nominal optical power via regulation of the ferrofluid pressure, permitting a degree of high-fidelity low-order wavefront control impossible with current instrumentation. We report on the continuing technological growth of the prototype device, including progress with actuation, metrology, and modeling of the DM response.

WFIRST-AFTA design makes use of an existing 2.4m telescope for direct imaging of exoplanets. To maintain the high contrast needed for the coronagraph, wavefront error (WFE) of the optical system needs to be continuously sensed and controlled. Low Order Wavefront Sensing (LOWFS) uses the rejected starlight from an immediate focal plane to sense wavefront changes (mostly thermally induced low order WFE) by combining the LOWFS mask (a phase plate located at the small center region with reflective layer) with the starlight rejection masks, i.e. Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph (HLC)’s occulter or Shaped Pupil Coronagraph (SPC)’s field stop. Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS) measures phase via the phase-contrast method and is known to be photon noise optimal for measuring low order aberrations. Recently, ZWFS was selected as the baseline LOWFS technology on WFIST/AFTA for its good sensitivity, accuracy, and its easy integration with the starlight rejection mask. In this paper, we review the theory of ZWFS operation, describe the ZWFS algorithm development, and summarize various numerical sensitivity studies on the sensor performance. In the end, the predicted sensor performance on SPC and HLC configurations are presented.

Differential OTF uses two images taken with a telescope pupil modification between them to measure the complex field over most of the pupil. If the pupil modification involves a non-negligible region of the pupil, the dOTF field is blurred by convolution with the complex conjugate of the pupil field change. In some cases, the convolution kernel, or difference field, can cause significant blurring. We explore using deconvolution to recover a highresolution measurement of the complex pupil field. In particular, by assuming we know something about the area and nature of the difference field, we can construct a Wiener filter that increases the resolution of the complex pupil field estimate in the presence of noise. By introducing a controllable pupil modification, such as actuating a telescope primary mirror segment in piston-tip-tilt to make the measurement, we explain added features to the difference field which can be used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio for information in arbitrary ranges of spatial frequency. We will present theory and numerical simulations to discuss key features of the difference field which lead to its utility for deconvolution of dOTF measurements.

We present an overview of the design of a new testbed for studying coronagraphic imaging and wavefront control using a variety of pupil and coronagraph architectures. The testbed is designed to explore optimal use of starlight (including starlight rejected by the coronagraph) for wavefront control, system self-calibration, and point spread function (PSF) calibration. It is also compatible with coronagraph designs for centrally obscured and segmented apertures, and includes shaped or apodized pupils, a range of focal plane masks and Lyot stops of multiple sizes, and an optional PIAA apodizing stage. Starlight is reflected and imaged from the focal plane mask and Lyot stop for low-order wavefront sensing. Both a segmented and a continuous sheet MEMS DM are included to simulate segmented telescope pupils, apply known test phase patterns, and implement a controllable phase apodization coronagraph. The testbed is adaptable and is currently being used to investigate three different techniques: (1) the differential optical transfer function (dOTF), (2) low-order wavefront sensing (LOWFS) with a hybrid-Lyot coronagraph, and (3) linear dark field control (LDFC).

We demonstrate self-calibration of an adaptive optical system using differential OTF [Codona, JL; Opt. Eng. 0001; 52(9):097105-097105. doi:10.1117/1.OE.52.9.097105]. We use a deformable mirror (DM) along with science camera focal plane images to implement a closed-loop servo that both flattens the DM and corrects for non-common-path aberrations within the telescope. The pupil field modification required for dOTF measurement is introduced by displacing actuators near the edge of the illuminated pupil. Simulations were used to develop methods to retrieve the phase from the complex amplitude dOTF measurements for both segmented and continuous sheet MEMS DMs and tests were performed using a Boston Micromachines continuous sheet DM for verification. We compute the actuator correction updates directly from the phase of the dOTF measurements, reading out displacements and/or slopes at segment and actuator positions. Through simulation, we also explore the effectiveness of these techniques for a variety of photons collected in each dOTF exposure pair.

This paper presents results of the feedback control design for JPL's Fast Steering Mirror (FSM) for the WFIRST- AFTA coronagraph instrument. The objective of this controller is to cancel jitter disturbances in the beam from the spacecraft to a pointing stability of 0.4 masec over the duration of the observation using a momentum- compensated FSM. The plant model for the FSM was characterized experimentally, and the sensor model is based on simulated modeling. The control approach is divided between feedback compensation of low frequency attitude control system (ACS) drift, and feedforward cancellation of high frequency tonal disturbances originating from reaction wheel excitation of the telescope structure. This paper will present various aspects of the controller design, plant characterization, sensor modeling, disturbance estimation, performance simulation, and preliminary experimental testing results.

Direct imaging of earth-like exoplanets in the Habitable Zone of sun-like stars requires image contrast of ~10^10 at angular separations of around a hundred milliarcseconds. One approach for achieving this performance is to fly a starshade at a long distance in front of the telescope, shading the telescope from the direct starlight, but allowing planets around the star to be seen. The starshade is positioned so that sunlight falls on the surface away from the telescope, so the sun does not directly illuminate it. However, sunlight scattered from the starshade edge can enter the telescope, raising the background light level and potentially preventing the starshade from delivering the required contrast. As a result, starshade edge design has been identified as one of the highest priority technology gaps for external occulter missions in the NASAs Exoplanet Exploration Program Technology Plan 2013. To reduce the sunlight edge scatter to an acceptable level, the edge Radius Of Curvature (ROC) should be 1μm or less (commercial razor blades have ROC of a few hundred nanometer). This poses a challenging manufacturing requirement and may make the occulter difficult to handle. In this paper we propose an alternative approach to controlling the edge scattering by applying a flexible metamaterial to the occulter edge. Metamaterials are artificially structured materials, which have been designed to display properties not found in natural materials. Metamaterials can be designed to direct the scatter at planned incident angles away from the space telescope, thereby directly decreasing the contaminating background light. Reduction of the background light translates into shorter integration time to characterize a target planet and therefore improves the efficiency of the observations. As an additional benefit, metamaterials also have potential to produce increased tolerance to edge defects.

An external occulter is a spacecraft own along the line-of-sight of a space telescope to suppress starlight and enable high-contrast direct imaging of exoplanets. The shape of an external occulter must be specially designed to optimally suppress starlight; however, deviations from the ideal shape such as manufacturing errors can result in loss of suppression in the shadow. Due to the long separation distances and large dimensions involved for a space occulter, laboratory testing is conducted with scaled versions of occulters etched on silicon wafers. Using numerical simulations for a ight Fresnel occulter design, we show how the suppression performance of an occulter mask scales with the available propagation distance for expected random manufacturing defects along the edge of the occulter petal. We derive an analytical model for predicting performance due to such manufacturing defects across the petal edges of an occulter mask and compare this with the numerical simulations. We discuss the scaling of an extended occulter testbed.

JWST/NIRISS has a non-redundant aperture mask (NRM) for use with its F380M, F430M, F480M and F277W filters. In addition to high-resolution imaging with moderate contrast, the NRM provides better astrometric accuracy over a wide field of view than regular imaging. We investigate the accuracy achievable with the NRM by using an image-plane algorithm to analyze the PSFs of a point source that were obtained at a fixed pixel location with sub-pixel dithers during the second Cryo-Vacuum test campaign of the Integrated Science Instrument Module at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Astrometry of brown dwarfs with the NRM will be sensitive to the presence of terrestrial planets and can be used to probe the architecture of planetary systems around these objects.

Direct imaging of extra-solar planets is now a reality, especially with the deployment and commissioning of the first generation of specialized ground-based instruments such as the Gemini Planet Imager and SPHERE. These systems will allow detection of Jupiter-like planets 10⁷ times fainter than their host star. Obtaining this contrast level and beyond requires the combination of a coronagraph to suppress light coming from the host star and a wavefront control system including a deformable mirror (DM) to remove residual starlight (speckles) created by the imperfections of telescope. However, all these current and future systems focus on detecting faint planets around single host stars, while several targets or planet candidates are located around nearby binary stars such as our neighboring star Alpha Centauri. Here, we present a method to simultaneously correct aberrations and diffraction of light coming from the target star as well as its companion star in order to reveal planets orbiting the target star. This method works even if the companion star is outside the control region of the DM (beyond its half-Nyquist frequency), by taking advantage of aliasing effects.

NASA's Astrophysics Division plans to initiate mission concept studies in 2016 of large candidate astrophysics missions for consideration by the 2020 Decadal Survey. The studies are expected to include two mission concepts capable of directly imaging exo-earths (HabEx and LUVOIR). Direct imaging of an exo-earth begins with starlight suppression, which is required at a depth of 10^-10 in the visible for an earth-sun twin. The current results of laboratory coronagraphs are approaching the levels needed for the direct detection and characterization of an exo-earth. Other critical technologies are needed, such as ultra-low noise detectors, large format deformable mirrors, a large aperture space telescope, and sophisticated post-processing algorithms. While technologically challenging, the goal is not impossible; many of the required technologies are already at TRL 3 and beyond. After the successful on-orbit operation of WFIRST-AFTA in the next decade, some of the technologies will be at TRL 9. This paper summarizes the needed technologies that NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program is prioritizing for maturation.