Multi-star wavefront control for the wide-field infrared survey telescope

Dan Sirbu; Ruslan Belikov; Eduardo Bendek; Chris Henze; A.J. Eldorado Riggs; Stuart Shaklan

doi:10.1117/12.2314145

6 July 2018 Multi-star wavefront control for the wide-field infrared survey telescope

Dan Sirbu, Ruslan Belikov, Eduardo Bendek, Chris Henze, A.J. Eldorado Riggs, Stuart Shaklan

Proceedings Volume 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 106982F (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314145
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is planned to have a coronagraphic instrument (CGI) to enable high-contrast direct imaging of exoplanets around nearby stars. The majority of nearby FGK stars are located in multi-star systems, including the Alpha Centauri stars which may represent the best quality targets for the CGI on account of their proximity and brightness potentially allowing the direct imaging of rocky planets. However, a binary system exhibits additional leakage from the off-axis companion star that may be brighter than the target exoplanet. Multi-Star Wavefront Control (MSWC) is a wavefront-control technique that allows suppression of starlight of both stars in a binary system thus enabling direct imaging of circumstellar planets in binary star systems such as Alpha Centauri. We explore the capabilities of the WFIRST CGI instrument to directly image multi-star systems using MSWC. We consider several simulated scenarios using the WFIRST CGI's Shaped Pupil Coronagraph (SPC) Wide-Field Imaging Mode. First, we consider close binaries such as Mu Cassiopeia that require no modifications to the WFIRST CGI instrument and can be implemented as a purely algorithmic solution. Second, we consider wide binaries such as Alpha Centauri that require a diffraction grating to enable suppression of the off-axis starlight leakage at Super-Nyquist separations. We demonstrate via simulation dark holes in 10% broadband compatible with the WFIRST CGI.

Citation Download Citation

Dan Sirbu, Ruslan Belikov, Eduardo Bendek, Chris Henze, A.J. Eldorado Riggs, and Stuart Shaklan "Multi-star wavefront control for the wide-field infrared survey telescope", Proc. SPIE 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 106982F (6 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314145

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