In preparation for the Astro 2020 Decadal Survey NASA has commissioned the study four flagship missions spanning to a wide range of observable wavelengths: the Origins Space Telescope (OST, formerly the Far-Infrared Surveyor), Lynx (formerly the X-ray Surveyor), the Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) and the Habitable Exoplanet Imager (HabEx). One of the key scientific objectives of the latter two is the detection and characterization of the earth-like planets around nearby stars using the direct imaging technique (along with a broad range of investigations regarding the architecture of and atmospheric composition exoplanetary systems using this technique). As a consequence dedicated exoplanet instruments are being studied for these mission concepts. This paper discusses the design of the coronagraph instrument for the architecture "A" (15 meters aperture) of LUVOIR. The material presented in this paper is aimed at providing an overview of the LUVOIR coronagraph instrument. It is the result of four months of discussions with various community stakeholders (scientists and technologists) regarding the instrument's basic parameters followed by meticulous design work by the the GSFC Instrument Design Laboratory team. In the first section we review the main science drivers, presents the overall parameters of the instrument (general architecture and backend instrument) and delve into the details of the currently envisioned coronagraph masks along with a description of the wavefront control architecture. Throughout the manuscript we describe the trades we made during the design process. Because the vocation of this study is to provide a baseline design for the most ambitious earth-like finding instrument that could be possibly launched into the 2030's, we have designed an complex system privileged that meets the ambitious science goals out team was chartered by the LUVOIR STDT exoplanet Working Group. However in an effort to minimize technological risk we tried to maximize the number of technologies that will be matured by the WFIRST coronagraph instruments.

Direct imaging of exoplanets requires establishing and maintaining a high-contrast dark field (DF) within the science image to a high degree of precision (10(-10)). Current approaches aimed at establishing the DF, such as electric field conjugation (EFC), have been demonstrated in the lab and have proven capable of high-contrast DF generation. The same approaches have been considered for the maintenance of the DF as well. However, these methods rely on phase diversity measurements, which require field modulation; this interrupts the DF and consequently competes with the science acquisition. We introduce and demonstrate spatial linear dark field control (LDFC) as an alternative technique by which the high-contrast DF can be maintained without modulation. Once the DF has been established by conventional EFC, spatial LDFC locks the high-contrast state of the DF by operating a closed loop around the linear response of the bright field (BF) to wavefront variations that modify both the BF and the DF. We describe the fundamental operating principles of spatial LDFC and provide numerical simulations of its operation as a DF stabilization technique that is capable of wavefront correction within the DF without interrupting science acquisition. (c) The Authors.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間健康科学) / 甲第21037号 / 人健博第53号 / 新制||人健||4(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科人間健康科学系専攻 / (主査)教授 杉本 直三, 教授 精山 明敏, 教授 安達 泰治 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human Health Sciences / Kyoto University / DFAM

Wavefront controller optimization is important in achieving the best possible image quality for adaptive optics systems on the current generation of large and very large aperture telescopes. This will become even more critical when we consider the demands of the next generation of extremely large telescopes currently under development. These telescopes will be capable of providing resolution which is significantly greater than the current generation of optical/IR telescopes. However, reaching the full resolving potential of these instruments will require a careful analysis of all disturbance sources, then optimizing the wavefront controller to provide the best possible image quality given the desired science goals and system constraints. Along with atmospheric turbulence and sensor noise, structural vibration will play an important part in determining the overall image quality obtained. The next generation of very large aperture telescopes currently being developed will require assessing the effects of structural vibration on closed loop AO system performance as an integral part of the overall system design. Telescope structural vibrations can seriously degrade image quality, resulting in actual spot full width half maximum (FWHM) and angular resolution much worse than the theoretical limit. Strehl ratio can also be significantly degraded by structural vibration as energy is dispersed over a much larger area of the detector. In addition to increasing telescope diameter to obtain higher resolution, there has also been significant interest in adaptive optics systems which observe at shorter wavelength from the near infrared to visible (VNIR) wavelengths, at or near 0.7 microns. This will require significant reduction in the overall wavefront residuals as compared with current systems, and will therefore make assessment and optimization of the wavefront controller even more critical for obtaining good AO system performance in the VNIR regime.

This paper presents the early-stage simulation results of linear dark field control (LDFC) as a new approach to maintaining a stable dark hole within a stellar post-coronagraphic PSF. In practice, conventional speckle nulling is used to create a dark hole in the PSF, and LDFC is then employed to maintain the dark field by using information from the bright speckle field. The concept exploits the linear response of the bright speckle intensity to wavefront variations in the pupil, and therefore has many advantages over conventional speckle nulling as a method for stabilizing the dark hole. In theory, LDFC is faster, more sensitive, and more robust than using conventional speckle nulling techniques, like electric field conjugation, to maintain the dark hole. In this paper, LDFC theory, linear bright speckle characterization, and first results in simulation are presented as an initial step toward the deployment of LDFC on the UA Wavefront Control testbed in the coming year.

No description available.

Imager une exo-terre à proximité d’une étoile est une tâche complexe : le signal de la planète est noyé dans le flux immense de l’étoile, très proche. Doivent donc être combinés :- de grands télescopes spatiaux segmentés. La segmentation du miroir primaire facilite le transport mais crée des erreurs liées à l’alignement.- un coronographe, permettant d’éteindre la lumière stellaire. - enfin, toute aberration optique crée un résidu lumineux nuisible dans l’image. La mesure et le contrôle des aberrations d’un système coronographique, notamment celles liées à la segmentation du télescope, sont donc primordiaux et constituent le sujet de ma thèse.Tout d’abord, j’ai développé PASTIS, un modèle simplifié du contraste d’un coronographe en présence d’une pupille segmentée, permettant d’analyser facilement les performances pour contraindre les aberrations optiques lors du design de l’instrument. PASTIS prend en compte les spécificités des instruments : structure de la pupille, aberrations optiques dues à la segmentation, coronographe. Je l’ai appliqué au télescope LUVOIR afin d’analyser les modes limitant le contraste et ainsi mieux répartir les contraintes sur les segments. Par la suite, j’ai travaillé sur l’analyse de front d’onde coronographique en présence d’un télescope segmenté sur le banc expérimental HiCAT avec une première démonstration de l’analyseur COFFEE permettant de reconstruire les erreurs de phasage avec une grande précision. Enfin, j’ai mené une analyse comparative des multiples méthodes de contrôle de front d’onde existantes et validé l’une d’elles (Dark Hole Non Linéaire) expérimentalement dans un cadre simplifié sur le banc MITHIC du LAM / Direct imaging of exo-Earths is extremely complex: the star is by far brighter and very close to the planet. Several tools have to be combined:- a giant primary mirror. For manufacturing and transportation reasons, we tend to use segmented mirrors, ie. mirrors made of smaller mirrors but that have to be well-aligned and stabilised.- a coronagraph, enabling to remove the starlight.- the smallest residual wavefront aberration into residual light that decreases the image quality. The measurement and control of the aberrations, including the ones due to the telescope segmentation, are crucial and consist in the topic of my thesis.First, I developed PASTIS, a model of the contrast of a coronagraphic system in presence of a segmented pupil, enabling to analyze the performance to set up constraints on the optical aberrations during the instrument design. PASTIS takes into account the specificities of high-contrast instruments: pupil structure, optical aberrations due to the segmentation, coronagraph. I applied it to the LUVOIR telescope to analyze the main modes limiting the contrast and therefore optimizing the repartition of the constraints on the segments. In parallel, I worked on the analysis of the coronagraphic wavefront in presence of a segmented telescope on the experimental testbed called HiCAT, with a first demonstration of the COFFEE sensor enabling to reconstruct phasing errors with a high precision.Eventually, I ran a comparative analysis of existing methods of wavefront control and experimentally validated one of them (Non Linear Dark Hole) in a simplified case on the MITHIC testbed at LAM

No description available.