Toward deep single-mode cross-aperture nulling

E. Serabyn; K. Liewer; G. Ruane

doi:10.1117/12.3020750

28 August 2024 Toward deep single-mode cross-aperture nulling

E. Serabyn, K. Liewer, G. Ruane

Proceedings Volume 13095, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging IX; 130952P (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020750
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

Exoplanets can potentially be observed very close to stars using single-mode cross-aperture nulling interferometry, an optical-fiber based approach in which starlight rejection occurs as a result of a coupling mismatch between an antisymmetric stellar input field and a symmetric fiber mode. The input stellar point-spread function is first modified by passage through an appropriate upstream pupil-plane phase mask, such as a phase-knife mask, which provides a p-radian phase step, or equivalently, a relative field reversal, across a pupil bisector. Using a phase mask with a “crossed” halfwave plate structure to produce the desired relative field reversal, a narrowband null depth of 2.2 × 10^-5 has been demonstrated in the laboratory, a rejection level that is sufficient for the detection of Hot Jupiters with large ground-based telescopes. Moreover, as is shown here, phase masks with slightly more complex spatial patterns can in theory lower the stellar leakage due to finite stellar diameters into the 10^-9 to 10^-10 range needed for terrestrial exoplanet observations. Because nulling performance improves with wavelength, near-infrared cross-aperture nulling may thus be able to serve as a long-wavelength complement to visible wavelength coronagraphy on future exoplanet missions such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory.

(2024) Published by SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Citation Download Citation

E. Serabyn, K. Liewer, and G. Ruane "Toward deep single-mode cross-aperture nulling", Proc. SPIE 13095, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging IX, 130952P (28 August 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020750

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