Self-coherent camera as a focal plane wavefront sensor: simulations

Direct detection of exoplanets requires high dynamic range imaging. Coronagraphs could be the solution, but their performance in space is limited by wavefront errors (manufacturing errors on optics, temperature variations, etc.), which create quasi-static stellar speckles in the final image. Several solutions have been suggested for tackling this speckle noise. Differential imaging techniques substract a reference image to the coronagraphic residue in a post-processing imaging. Other techniques attempt to actively correct wavefront errors using a deformable mirror. In that case, wavefront aberrations have to be measured in the science image to extremely high accuracy. We propose the self-coherent camera sequentially used as a focal-plane wavefront sensor for active correction and differential imaging. For both uses, stellar speckles are spatially encoded in the science image so that differential aberrations are strongly minimized. The encoding is based on the principle of light incoherence between the hosting star and its environment. In this paper, we first discuss one intrinsic limitation of deformable mirrors. Then, several parameters of the self-coherent camera are studied in detail. We also propose an easy and robust design to associate the self-coherent camera with a coronagraph that uses a Lyot stop. Finally, we discuss the case of the association with a four-quadrant phase mask and numerically demonstrate that such a device enables the detection of Earth-like planets under realistic conditions. The parametric study of the technique lets us believe it can be implemented quite easily in future instruments dedicated to direct imaging of exoplanets.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, accepted in A&A (here is the final version

The EAGLE instrument for the E-ELT: developments since delivery of Phase A

The EAGLE instrument is a Multi-Object Adaptive Optics (MOAO) fed, multiple Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS), working in the Near Infra-Red (NIR), on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). A Phase A design study was delivered to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) leading to a successful review in October 2009. Since that time there have been a number of developments, which we summarize here. Some of these developments are also described in more detail in other submissions at this meeting. The science case for the instrument, while broad, highlighted in particular: understanding the stellar populations of galaxies in the nearby universe, the observation of the evolution of galaxies during the period of rapid stellar build-up between redshifts of 2-5, and the search for 'first light' in the universe at redshifts beyond 7. In the last 2 years substantial progress has been made in these areas, and we have updated our science case to show that EAGLE is still an essential facility for the E-ELT. This in turn allowed us to revisit the science requirements for the instrument, confirming most of the original decisions, but with one modification. The original location considered for the instrument (a gravity invariant focal station) is no longer in the E-ELT Construction Proposal, and so we have performed some preliminary analyses to show that the instrument can be simply adapted to work at the E-ELT Nasmyth platform. Since the delivery of the Phase A documentation, MOAO has been demonstrated on-sky by the CANARY experiment at the William Herschel Telescope.Comment: 10 pages, SPIE Conference proceedings, Amsterdam, July 201

Photometry and Spectrum measurements of the Laser Guide Star beam emission at Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos with the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS

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HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre-of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries

FCC-ee: The Lepton Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 2

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched, as an international collaboration hosted by CERN. This study covers a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee) and an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), which could, successively, be installed in the same 100 km tunnel. The scientific capabilities of the integrated FCC programme would serve the worldwide community throughout the 21st century. The FCC study also investigates an LHC energy upgrade, using FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the second volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the electron-positron collider FCC-ee. After summarizing the physics discovery opportunities, it presents the accelerator design, performance reach, a staged operation scenario, the underlying technologies, civil engineering, technical infrastructure, and an implementation plan. FCC-ee can be built with today’s technology. Most of the FCC-ee infrastructure could be reused for FCC-hh. Combining concepts from past and present lepton colliders and adding a few novel elements, the FCC-ee design promises outstandingly high luminosity. This will make the FCC-ee a unique precision instrument to study the heaviest known particles (Z, W and H bosons and the top quark), offering great direct and indirect sensitivity to new physics

FCC Physics Opportunities: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 1

We review the physics opportunities of the Future Circular Collider, covering its e+e-, pp, ep and heavy ion programmes. We describe the measurement capabilities of each FCC component, addressing the study of electroweak, Higgs and strong interactions, the top quark and flavour, as well as phenomena beyond the Standard Model. We highlight the synergy and complementarity of the different colliders, which will contribute to a uniquely coherent and ambitious research programme, providing an unmatchable combination of precision and sensitivity to new physics

HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider – Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre-of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries