Direct spectroscopy is a very promising approach to characterizing the atmospheres of nearby rocky exoplanets, but non-common path aberrations (NCPA), which are differential aberrations between the science optical path and the adaptive optics optical path, can leak through the coronagraph and create speckles that mimic...
S. Haffert, J. Liberman, J. Males et al.· Astronomy & Astrophysics· 0 citations
We report on the goals, design, and ongoing development of the Netherlands EXoplanet Testbed (NEXT), a high-contrast imaging testbed under construction in Leiden. NEXT is designed to develop and validate technologies and algorithms for extreme adaptive optics (XAO) and coronagraphy at the performance levels required by...
R. Landman, S. Haffert, L. Desdoigts et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 1 citation
Current high-contrast imaging instruments are limited by wavefront errors originating from non-common path aberrations (NCPAs) due, for example, to manufacturing errors in the optics and temperature drifts in the system. These create quasi-static speckles in the final science image that are difficult to distinguish fro...
E. Tonucci, S. Haffert, J. Males et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 1 citation
MagAO-X is a visible-light extreme adaptive optics instrument on the 6.5 meter Magellan Clay Telescope, recently upgraded to enable high-contrast polarimetric differential imaging (PDI) in r', i', and z' filters. Polarimetry is a powerful technique for suppressing unpolarized starlight and isolating the faint, polarize...
M. Lucas, L. Close, J. Males et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 2 citations
The next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) and the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) require active speckle suppression to directly image exo-Earths. Focal plane wavefront sensing and control allows us to detect and remove time-varying speckles through measurements of the electric field, ideally with a s...
J. Liberman, S. Haffert, J. Males et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 2 citations
The Giant Magellan Adaptive Optics eXtreme (GMagAO-X) instrument has now been selected as an official part of the Giant Magellan Telescope’s (GMT) instrument suite. The instrument will be ready at first-light of the GMT in the mid 2030s. The instrument is now progressing towards its final design with a final design rev...
S. Haffert, J. Males, L. Close et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 3 citations
A lingering technical challenge for pyramid wavefront sensors (PyWFS) is their change in response between calibration and correction residuals, a quantity known as optical gain (OG). Given the prevalent use of PyWFSs in current and planned high contrast adaptive optics (AO), understanding and reliably measuring OG for...
E. McEwen, J. Males, O. Guyon et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 1 citation
Direct imaging of exoplanets is very tricky and requires extremely well corrected wavefronts. Especially low order modes are detrimental to the performance of coronagraphs at their inner-working angle. However, that is precisely where conventional AO systems have the highest residuals that are caused by servo-lag error...
S. Haffert, J. Males, P. Johnson et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 0 citations
Current HCI systems are limited by residual starlight, resulting from atmospheric turbulence unseen by the adaptive optics system or stemming from imperfections in the optical system itself. This leads to speckles in the PSF of the final images inhibiting our detection capabilities. Reaching the photon-noise limit in h...
S. Juillard, O. Guyon, Niyati Desai et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 0 citations
MagAO-X is a visible-light extreme adaptive optics instrument on the 6.5 meter Magellan Clay Telescope, recently upgraded to enable high-contrast polarimetric differential imaging (PDI) in r', i', and z'filters. Polarimetry is a powerful technique for suppressing unpolarized starlight and isolating the faint, polarized...
Incoming starlight is refracted as it enters Earth’s atmosphere from the vacuum of space. The wavelength dependence of atmospheric refraction causes elongation of the broadband PSF of ground-based telescopes, especially in the visible spectrum. The result is degraded image quality alongside reduced coronagraph light-bl...
K. Twitchell, S. Haffert, J. Males et al.· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 4 citations
Spatial Mode Demultiplexers (SPADE) are devices that split an incoming wavefront into a particular set of electric field modes. SPADEs have been shown to be quantum-optimal for many measurement problems including coronagraphy, wavefront sensing and interferometric (nulling) beam combiners. We will show how quantum opti...
S. Haffert, Yin-Zi Xin, R. Landman· Astronomical Telescopes + In...· 1 citation
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