A Transmission-Filter Coronagraph: Design and Test

We propose a transmission-filter coronagraph for direct imaging of Jupiter-like exoplanets with ground-based telescopes. The coronagraph is based on a transmission filter that consists of finite number of transmission steps. A discrete optimization algorithm is proposed for the design of the transmi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPublications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Vol. 122; no. 891; pp. 590 - 594
Main Authors Ren, Deqing, Dou, Jiangpei, Zhu, Yongtian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago, IL University of Chicago Press 01.05.2010
Subjects
Astronomy
Coronagraphs
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Image filters
Imaging
Materials
Metal coatings
Optical filters
Phase error
Spiders
Telescopes
Wavelengths
Coronographs
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Summary:We propose a transmission-filter coronagraph for direct imaging of Jupiter-like exoplanets with ground-based telescopes. The coronagraph is based on a transmission filter that consists of finite number of transmission steps. A discrete optimization algorithm is proposed for the design of the transmission filter that is optimized for ground-based telescopes with central obstructions and spider structures. We discussed the algorithm that is applied for our coronagraph design. To demonstrate the performance of the coronagraph, a filter was manufactured and laboratory tests were conducted. The test results show that the coronagraph can achieve a high contrast of10-6.5 10 - 6.5 at an inner working angle of5λ/D 5 λ / D , which indicates that our coronagraph can be immediately used for the direct imaging of Jupiter-like exoplanets with ground-based telescopes.
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ISSN:0004-6280
1538-3873
DOI:10.1086/652958