56 research outputs found
Large amplitude tip/tilt estimation by geometric diversity for multiple-aperture telescopes
A novel method nicknamed ELASTIC is proposed for the alignment of
multiple-aperture telescopes, in particular segmented telescopes. It only needs
the acquisition of two diversity images of an unresolved source, and is based
on the computation of a modified, frequency-shifted, cross-spectrum. It
provides a polychromatic large range tip/tilt estimation with the existing
hardware and an inexpensive noniterative unsupervised algorithm. Its
performance is studied and optimized by means of simulations. They show that
with 5000 photo-electrons/sub-aperture/frame and 1024x1024 pixel images,
residues are within the capture range of interferometric phasing algorithms
such as phase diversity. The closed-loop alignment of a 6 sub-aperture mirror
provides an experimental demonstration of the effectiveness of the method.
Author accepted version. Final version is Copyright 2017 Optical Society of
America. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only.
Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this
paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modifications of the content of
this paper are prohibited.Comment: Final version:
https://www.osapublishing.org/josaa/abstract.cfm?uri=josaa-34-8-127
FIRST, a pupil-remapping fiber interferometer at the Subaru Telescope: on-sky results
FIRST, the Fibered Imager foR a Single Telescope, is a spectro-imager using single-mode fibers for pupil remap- ping, allowing measurements beyond the telescope diffraction limit. Integrated on the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics instrument at the Subaru Telescope, it benefits from a very stable visible light wave- front allowing to acquire long exposure and operate on significantly fainter sources than previously possible. On-sky results demonstrated the ability of the instrument to detect stellar companions separated 43mas in the case of the Capella binary system. A similar approach on an extremely large telescope would offer unique scientific opportunities for companion detection and characterization at very high angular resolution
FIRST, a pupil-remapping fiber interferometer at the Subaru Telescope: on-sky results
FIRST, the Fibered Imager foR a Single Telescope, is a spectro-imager using single-mode fibers for pupil remap- ping, allowing measurements beyond the telescope diffraction limit. Integrated on the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics instrument at the Subaru Telescope, it benefits from a very stable visible light wave- front allowing to acquire long exposure and operate on significantly fainter sources than previously possible. On-sky results demonstrated the ability of the instrument to detect stellar companions separated 43mas in the case of the Capella binary system. A similar approach on an extremely large telescope would offer unique scientific opportunities for companion detection and characterization at very high angular resolution
Laboratory characterization of FIRSTv2 photonic chip for the study of substellar companions
FIRST (Fibered Imager foR a Single Telescope instrument) is a post-AO instrument that enables high contrast imaging and spectroscopy at spatial scales below the diffraction limit. FIRST achieves sensitivity and accuracy by a unique combination of sparse aperture masking, spatial filtering by single-mode fibers and cross-dispersion in the visible. The telescope pupil is divided into sub-pupils by an array of microlenses, coupling the light into single-mode fibers. The output of the fibers are rearranged in a non redundant configuration, allowing the measurement of the complex visibility for every baseline over the 600-900 nm spectral range. A first version of this instrument is currently integrated to the Subaru Extreme AO bench (SCExAO). This paper focuses on the on-going instrument upgrades and testings, which aim at increasing the instrument’s stability and sensitivity, thus improving the dynamic range. FIRSTv2’s interferometric scheme is based on a photonic chip beam combiner. We report on the laboratory characterization of two different types of 5-input beam combiner with enhanced throughput. The interferometric recombination of each pair of sub-pupils is encoded on a single output. Thus, to sample the fringes we implemented a temporal phase modulation by pistoning the segmented mirrors of a Micro-ElectroMechanical System (MEMS). By coupling high angular resolution and spectral resolution in the visible, FIRST offers unique capabilities in the context of the detection and spectral characterization of close companions, especially on 30m-class telescopes
The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics system: enabling high-contrast imaging on solar-system scales
The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument is a
multipurpose high-contrast imaging platform designed for the discovery and
detailed characterization of exoplanetary systems and serves as a testbed for
high-contrast imaging technologies for ELTs. It is a multi-band instrument
which makes use of light from 600 to 2500nm allowing for coronagraphic direct
exoplanet imaging of the inner 3 lambda/D from the stellar host. Wavefront
sensing and control are key to the operation of SCExAO. A partial correction of
low-order modes is provided by Subaru's facility adaptive optics system with
the final correction, including high-order modes, implemented downstream by a
combination of a visible pyramid wavefront sensor and a 2000-element deformable
mirror. The well corrected NIR (y-K bands) wavefronts can then be injected into
any of the available coronagraphs, including but not limited to the phase
induced amplitude apodization and the vector vortex coronagraphs, both of which
offer an inner working angle as low as 1 lambda/D. Non-common path, low-order
aberrations are sensed with a coronagraphic low-order wavefront sensor in the
infrared (IR). Low noise, high frame rate, NIR detectors allow for active
speckle nulling and coherent differential imaging, while the HAWAII 2RG
detector in the HiCIAO imager and/or the CHARIS integral field spectrograph
(from mid 2016) can take deeper exposures and/or perform angular, spectral and
polarimetric differential imaging. Science in the visible is provided by two
interferometric modules: VAMPIRES and FIRST, which enable sub-diffraction
limited imaging in the visible region with polarimetric and spectroscopic
capabilities respectively. We describe the instrument in detail and present
preliminary results both on-sky and in the laboratory.Comment: Accepted for publication, 20 pages, 10 figure
New NIR spectro-polarimetric modes for the SCExAO instrument
Polarization Differential Imaging (PDI) is one of the most productive modes of current high-contrast imagers. Dozens of new protoplanetary, transition and debris disks were imaged recently for the first time, helping us understand the processes of planet formation, and giving clues on the mass of potential planets inside these disks, even if they cannot be imaged directly. The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument is equipped with a fast visible dual-camera polarimetric module, VAMPIRES, already producing valuable scientific observations of protoplanetary disks and dust shells. In addition, we recently commissioned two new polarimetric modules in the infrared. The first one is a spectro-polarimetric mode using the CHARIS Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS). A Wollaston prism was added in front of the IFS, reducing the field-of-view to 2x1 arcsec to accommodate for the imaging of both polarizations on the same detector without sacrificing the spectral resolution of the instrument, in any of its spectral modes. The second module, similar to VAMPIRES, uses a low-noise high frame rate C-RED ONE camera combined with a Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (FLC) device to modulate and record the polarization at high-speed, freezing effectively the atmospheric speckles for higher precision. We present on-sky results of the new polarimetric capabilities taken during the commissioning phase. In addition, we show future capabilities that are already scheduled to increase the performance of these modules, especially the addition of non-redundant masks, as well as a polarimetric vector Apodizing Phase Plate (vAPP) coronagraph
First on-sky demonstration of spatial Linear Dark Field Control with the vector-Apodizing Phase Plate at Subaru/SCExAO
Instrumentatio
SCExAO/MEC and CHARIS Discovery of a Low Mass, 6 AU-Separation Companion to HIP 109427 using Stochastic Speckle Discrimination and High-Contrast Spectroscopy
We report the direct imaging discovery of a low-mass companion to the nearby
accelerating A star, HIP 109427, with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive
Optics (SCExAO) instrument coupled with the MKID Exoplanet Camera (MEC) and
CHARIS integral field spectrograph. CHARIS data reduced with reference star PSF
subtraction yield 1.1-2.4 m spectra. MEC reveals the companion in and
band at a comparable signal-to-noise ratio using stochastic speckle
discrimination, with no PSF subtraction techniques. Combined with complementary
follow-up photometry from Keck/NIRC2, the SCExAO data favors a
spectral type, effective temperature, and luminosity of M4-M5.5, 3000-3200 ,
and , respectively.
Relative astrometry of HIP 109427 B from SCExAO/CHARIS and Keck/NIRC2, and
complementary Gaia-Hipparcos absolute astrometry of the primary favor a
semimajor axis of au, an eccentricity of
, an inclination of degrees, and a
dynamical mass of . This work shows the
potential for extreme AO systems to utilize speckle statistics in addition to
widely-used post-processing methods to directly image faint companions to
nearby stars near the telescope diffraction limit.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 table
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