The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme AO (SCExAO) instrument consists of a high
performance Phase Induced Amplitude Apodisation (PIAA) coronagraph combined
with an extreme Adaptive Optics (AO) system operating in the near-infrared (H
band). The extreme AO system driven by the 2000 element deformable mirror will
allow for Strehl ratios >90% to be achieved in the H-band when it goes closed
loop. This makes the SCExAO instrument a powerful platform for high contrast
imaging down to angular separations of the order of 1lambda/D and an ideal
testbed for exploring coronagraphic techniques for ELTs. In this paper we
report on the recent progress in regards to the development of the instrument,
which includes the addition of a visible bench that makes use of the light at
shorter wavelengths not currently utilized by SCExAO and closing the loop on
the tip/tilt wavefront sensor. We will also discuss several exciting guest
instruments which will expand the capabilities of SCExAO over the next few
years; namely CHARIS which is a integral field spectrograph as well as
VAMPIRES, a visible aperture masking experiment based on polarimetric analysis
of circumstellar disks. In addition we will elucidate the unique role extreme
AO systems will play in enabling high precision radial velocity spectroscopy
for the detection of small companions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures Proceedings of AO4ELTs3 conference, paper 13396,
Florence, Italy, May 201