We show by numerical simulations a fundamental gain in contrast when combining coherently monochromatic light from two adaptive optics (AO) telescopes instead of using a single stand-alone AO telescope, assuming efficient control and acquisition systems at high speed. A contrast gain map is defined as the normalized point spread functions (PSFs) ratio of a single Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) aperture over the dual Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) aperture in Fizeau mode. The global gain averaged across the AO-corrected field of view is improved by a factor of 2 in contrast in long exposures and by a factor of 10 in contrast in short exposures (i.e. in exposures, respectively, longer or shorter than the coherence time). The fringed speckle halo in short exposures contains not only high-angular resolution information, as stated by speckle imaging and speckle interferometry, but also high-contrast imaging information. A high-gain zone is further produced in the valleys of the PSF formed by the dark Airy rings and/or the dark fringes. Earth rotation allows us to exploit various areas in the contrast gain map. A huge-contrast gain in narrow zones can be achieved when both a dark fringe and a dark ring overlap on to an exoplanet. Compared to a single 8-m LBT aperture, the 23-m LBTI Fizeau imager can provide a gain in sensitivity (by a factor of 4), a gain in angular resolution (by a factor of 3) and, as well, a gain in raw contrast (by a factor of 2-1000 varying over the AO-corrected field of view).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/625961 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Patru, F., Esposito, S., Puglisi, A., Riccardi, A., Pinna, E., Arcidiacono, C., Antichi, J., Mennesson, B., Defrère, D., Hinz, P. M., Hill, J. M. |
| Contributors | Univ Arizona, Steward Observ |
| Publisher | OXFORD UNIV PRESS |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society |
| Relation | http://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/472/3/2544/4062199/The-LBTI-Fizeau-imager-I-Fundamental-gain-in |
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