WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph shaped pupil masks: design, fabrication, and characterization

Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian; Victor E. White; Karl Y. Yee; Pierre M. Echternach; Richard E. Muller; Matthew R. Dickie; Eric J. Cady; Camilo Mejia Prada; Daniel J. Ryan; Ilya Poberezhskiy; Brian D. Kern; Hanying Zhou; John E. Krist; Bijan Nemati; A. J. Eldorado Riggs; Neil T. Zimmerman; N. Jeremy Kasdin

doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.2.1.011005

7 December 2015 WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph shaped pupil masks: design, fabrication, and characterization

Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian, Victor E. White, Karl Y. Yee, Pierre M. Echternach, Richard E. Muller, Matthew R. Dickie, Eric J. Cady, Camilo Mejia Prada, Daniel J. Ryan, Ilya Poberezhskiy, Brian D. Kern, Hanying Zhou, John E. Krist, Bijan Nemati, A. J. Eldorado Riggs, Neil T. Zimmerman, N. Jeremy Kasdin

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 011005 (December 2015). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.2.1.011005

Abstract

NASA WFIRST-AFTA mission study includes a coronagraph instrument to find and characterize exoplanets. Various types of masks could be employed to suppress the host starlight to about 10−⁹ level contrast over a broad spectrum to enable the coronagraph mission objectives. Such masks for high-contrast internal coronagraphic imaging require various fabrication technologies to meet a wide range of specifications, including precise shapes, micron scale island features, ultralow reflectivity regions, uniformity, wave front quality, and achromaticity. We present the approaches employed at JPL to produce pupil plane and image plane coronagraph masks by combining electron beam, deep reactive ion etching, and black silicon technologies with illustrative examples of each, highlighting milestone accomplishments from the High Contrast Imaging Testbed at JPL and from the High Contrast Imaging Lab at Princeton University.

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Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian, Victor E. White, Karl Y. Yee, Pierre M. Echternach, Richard E. Muller, Matthew R. Dickie, Eric J. Cady, Camilo Mejia Prada, Daniel J. Ryan, Ilya Poberezhskiy, Brian D. Kern, Hanying Zhou, John E. Krist, Bijan Nemati, A. J. Eldorado Riggs, Neil T. Zimmerman, and N. Jeremy Kasdin "WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph shaped pupil masks: design, fabrication, and characterization," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 2(1), 011005 (7 December 2015). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.2.1.011005

Published: 7 December 2015

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