EXCEDE technology development I: first demonstrations of high contrast at 1.2 l/D for an Explorer space telescope mission

Ruslan Belikov; Eugene Pluzhnik; Fred C. Witteborn; Thomas P. Greene; Dana H. Lynch; Peter T. Zell; Glenn Schneider; Olivier Guyon; Domenick Tenerelli

doi:10.1117/12.927218

21 September 2012 EXCEDE technology development I: first demonstrations of high contrast at 1.2 λ/D for an Explorer space telescope mission

Ruslan Belikov, Eugene Pluzhnik, Fred C. Witteborn, Thomas P. Greene, Dana H. Lynch, Peter T. Zell, Glenn Schneider, Olivier Guyon, Domenick Tenerelli

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8442, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 844209 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927218
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

Coronagraph technology is advancing and promises to enable space telescopes capable of seeing debris disks as well as seeing and spectrally characterizing exo-Earths. Recently, NASA's explorer program has selected the EXCEDE (EXoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer) mission concept for technology development. EXCEDE is a 0.7m space telescope concept designed to achieve raw contrasts of 1e-6 at an inner working angle of 1.2 λ/D and 1e- 7 at 2 λ/D. In addition to doing fundamental science on debris disks, EXCEDE will also serve as a technological and scientific precursor for an exo-Earth imaging mission. EXCEDE uses a Starlight Suppression System (SSS) based on the Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph to provide high throughput and high contrast close to the diffraction limit, enabling aggressive performance on small telescopes. We report on the latest progress in developing the SSS and present coronagraphic performance results from our air testbed at NASA Ames. Our results include a lab demonstration of 1e-5 contrast at 1.2 λ/D, 1.3e-6 contrast at 1.4 λ/D and 2e-8 at 2 λ/D in monochromatic light. In addition, we discuss tip-tilt instabilities, which are believed to be our main limiting factor at present, and ways of characterizing them.

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Ruslan Belikov, Eugene Pluzhnik, Fred C. Witteborn, Thomas P. Greene, Dana H. Lynch, Peter T. Zell, Glenn Schneider, Olivier Guyon, and Domenick Tenerelli "EXCEDE technology development I: first demonstrations of high contrast at 1.2 λ/D for an Explorer space telescope mission", Proc. SPIE 8442, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 844209 (21 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.927218

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