Low-order wavefront sensing and control for WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph

Fang Shi; Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian; Randall Hein; Raymond Lam; Douglas Moore; James Moore; Keith Patterson; Ilya Poberezhskiy; Joel Shields; Erkin Sidick; Hong Tang; Tuan Truong; J. Kent Wallace; Xu Wang; Daniel Wilson

doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.2.1.011021

15 March 2016 Low-order wavefront sensing and control for WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph

Fang Shi, Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian, Randall Hein, Raymond Lam, Douglas Moore, James Moore, Keith Patterson, Ilya Poberezhskiy, Joel Shields, Erkin Sidick, Hong Tang, Tuan Truong, J. Kent Wallace, Xu Wang, Daniel Wilson

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 011021 (March 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.2.1.011021

Abstract

To maintain the required Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) coronagraph performance in a realistic space environment, a low-order wavefront sensing and control (LOWFS/C) subsystem is necessary. The LOWFS/C uses the rejected stellar light from the coronagraph to sense and suppress the telescope pointing errors as well as low-order wavefront errors (WFEs) due to changes in thermal loading of the telescope and the rest of the observatory. We will present a conceptual design of a LOWFS/C subsystem for the WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph. This LOWFS/C uses a Zernike phase contrast wavefront sensor (ZWFS) with a phase shifting disk combined with the stellar light rejecting occulting masks, a key concept to minimize the noncommon path error. We will present our analysis of the sensor performance and evaluate the performance of the line-of-sight jitter suppression loop, as well as the low-order WFE correction loop with a deformable mirror on the coronagraph. We will also report the LOWFS/C testbed design and the preliminary in-air test results, which show a very promising performance of the ZWFS.

Citation Download Citation

Fang Shi, Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian, Randall Hein, Raymond Lam, Douglas Moore, James Moore, Keith Patterson, Ilya Poberezhskiy, Joel Shields, Erkin Sidick, Hong Tang, Tuan Truong, J. Kent Wallace, Xu Wang, and Daniel Wilson "Low-order wavefront sensing and control for WFIRST-AFTA coronagraph," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 2(1), 011021 (15 March 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.2.1.011021

Published: 15 March 2016

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available