585 research outputs found
Ground-based adaptive optics coronagraphic performance under closed-loop predictive control
The discovery of the exoplanet Proxima b highlights the potential for the
coming generation of giant segmented mirror telescopes (GSMTs) to characterize
terrestrial --- potentially habitable --- planets orbiting nearby stars with
direct imaging. This will require continued development and implementation of
optimized adaptive optics systems feeding coronagraphs on the GSMTs. Such
development should proceed with an understanding of the fundamental limits
imposed by atmospheric turbulence. Here we seek to address this question with a
semi-analytic framework for calculating the post-coronagraph contrast in a
closed-loop AO system. We do this starting with the temporal power spectra of
the Fourier basis calculated assuming frozen flow turbulence, and then apply
closed-loop transfer functions. We include the benefits of a simple predictive
controller, which we show could provide over a factor of 1400 gain in raw PSF
contrast at 1 on bright stars, and more than a factor of 30 gain on
an I = 7.5 mag star such as Proxima. More sophisticated predictive control can
be expected to improve this even further. Assuming a photon noise limited
observing technique such as High Dispersion Coronagraphy, these gains in raw
contrast will decrease integration times by the same large factors. Predictive
control of atmospheric turbulence should therefore be seen as one of the key
technologies which will enable ground-based telescopes to characterize
terrrestrial planets.Comment: Accepted to JATI
Closed-loop focal plane wavefront control with the SCExAO instrument
This article describes the implementation of a focal plane based wavefront
control loop on the high-contrast imaging instrument SCExAO (Subaru
Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics). The sensor relies on the Fourier
analysis of conventional focal-plane images acquired after an asymmetric mask
is introduced in the pupil of the instrument. This absolute sensor is used here
in a closed-loop to compensate the non-common path errors that normally affects
any imaging system relying on an upstream adaptive optics system.This specific
implementation was used to control low order modes corresponding to eight
zernike modes (from focus to spherical). This loop was successfully run on-sky
at the Subaru Telescope and is used to offset the SCExAO deformable mirror
shape used as a zero-point by the high-order wavefront sensor. The paper
precises the range of errors this wavefront sensing approach can operate within
and explores the impact of saturation of the data and how it can be bypassed,
at a cost in performance. Beyond this application, because of its low hardware
impact, APF-WFS can easily be ported in a wide variety of wavefront sensing
contexts, for ground- as well space-borne telescopes, and for telescope pupils
that can be continuous, segmented or even sparse. The technique is powerful
because it measures the wavefront where it really matters, at the level of the
science detector.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication by A&
Coronagraphic Low Order Wavefront Sensor: Principle and Application to a Phase-Induced Amplitude Coronagraph
High contrast coronagraphic imaging of the immediate surrounding of stars
requires exquisite control of low-order wavefront aberrations, such as tip-tilt
(pointing) and focus. We propose an accurate, efficient and easy to implement
technique to measure such aberrations in coronagraphs which use a focal plane
mask to block starlight. The Coronagraphic Low Order Wavefront Sensor (CLOWFS)
produces a defocused image of a reflective focal plane ring to measure low
order aberrations. Even for small levels of wavefront aberration, the proposed
scheme produces large intensity signals which can be easily measured, and
therefore does not require highly accurate calibration of either the detector
or optical elements. The CLOWFS achieves nearly optimal sensitivity and is
immune from non-common path errors. This technique is especially well suited
for high performance low inner working angle (IWA) coronagraphs. On
phase-induced amplitude apodization (PIAA) type coronagraphs, it can
unambiguously recover aberrations which originate from either side of the beam
shaping introduced by the PIAA optics. We show that the proposed CLOWFS can
measure sub-milliarcsecond telescope pointing errors several orders of
magnitude faster than would be possible in the coronagraphic science focal
plane alone, and can also accurately calibrate residual coronagraphic leaks due
to residual low order aberrations. We have demonstrated 1e-3 lambda/D pointing
stability in a laboratory demonstration of the CLOWFS on a PIAA type
coronagraph
The EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer (EXCEDE)
We present an overview of the EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and
Disk Explorer (EXCEDE), selected by NASA for technology development and
maturation. EXCEDE will study the formation, evolution and architectures of
exoplanetary systems, and characterize circumstellar environments into stellar
habitable zones. EXCEDE provides contrast-limited scattered-light detection
sensitivities ~ 1000x greater than HST or JWST coronagraphs at a much smaller
effective inner working angle (IWA), thus enabling the exploration and
characterization of exoplanetary circumstellar disks in currently inaccessible
domains. EXCEDE will utilize a laboratory demonstrated high-performance Phase
Induced Amplitude Apodized Coronagraph (PIAA-C) integrated with a 70 cm
diameter unobscured aperture visible light telescope. The EXCEDE PIAA-C will
deliver star-to-disk augmented image contrasts of < 10E-8 and a 1.2 L/D IWA or
140 mas with a wavefront control system utilizing a 2000-element MEMS DM and
fast steering mirror. EXCEDE will provide 120 mas spatial resolution at 0.4
microns with dust detection sensitivity to levels of a few tens of zodis with
two-band imaging polarimetry. EXCEDE is a science-driven technology pathfinder
that will advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of
exoplanetary systems, placing our solar system in broader astrophysical
context, and will demonstrate the high contrast technologies required for
larger-scale follow-on and multi-wavelength investigations on the road to
finding and characterizing exo-Earths in the years ahead
Characterisation of the influence function non-additivities for a 1024-actuator MEMS deformable mirror
In order to evaluate the potential of MEMS deformable mirrors for open-loop
applications, a complete calibration process was performed on a 1024-actuator
mirror. The mirror must be perfectly calibrated to obtain deterministic
membrane deflection. The actuator's stroke-voltage relationship and the effect
of the non- additivity of the influence functions are studied and finally
integrated in an open-loop control process. This experiment aimed at minimizing
the residual error obtained in open-loop control.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, Proceedings of the 1st AO for ELT conference,
June 2009, Pari
Structural Agnostic Modeling: Adversarial Learning of Causal Graphs
A new causal discovery method, Structural Agnostic Modeling (SAM), is
presented in this paper. Leveraging both conditional independencies and
distributional asymmetries in the data, SAM aims at recovering full causal
models from continuous observational data along a multivariate non-parametric
setting. The approach is based on a game between players estimating each
variable distribution conditionally to the others as a neural net, and an
adversary aimed at discriminating the overall joint conditional distribution,
and that of the original data. An original learning criterion combining
distribution estimation, sparsity and acyclicity constraints is used to enforce
the end-to-end optimization of the graph structure and parameters through
stochastic gradient descent. Besides the theoretical analysis of the approach
in the large sample limit, SAM is extensively experimentally validated on
synthetic and real data
High Performance Lyot and PIAA Coronagraphy for Arbitrarily shaped Telescope Apertures
Two high performance coronagraphic approaches compatible with segmented and
obstructed telescope pupils are described. Both concepts use entrance pupil
amplitude apodization and a combined phase and amplitude focal plane mask to
achieve full coronagraphic extinction of an on-axis point source. While the
first concept, named Apodized Pupil Complex Mask Lyot Coronagraph (APCMLC),
relies on a transmission mask to perform the pupil apodization, the second
concept, named Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization complex mask coronagraph
(PIAACMC), uses beam remapping for lossless apodization. Both concepts
theoretically offer complete coronagraphic extinction (infinite contrast) of a
point source in monochromatic light, with high throughput and sub-lambda/D
inner working angle, regardless of aperture shape. The PIAACMC offers nearly
100% throughput and approaches the fundamental coronagraph performance limit
imposed by first principles. The steps toward designing the coronagraphs for
arbitrary apertures are described for monochromatic light. Designs for the
APCMLC and the higher performance PIAACMC are shown for several monolith and
segmented apertures, such as the apertures of the Subaru Telescope, Giant
Magellan Telescope (GMT), Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), the European Extremely
Large Telescope (E-ELT) and the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). Performance in
broadband light is also quantified, suggesting that the monochromatic designs
are suitable for use in up to 20% wide spectral bands for ground-based
telescopes.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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