The Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager (ETSI) amalgamates a low-resolution slitless prism spectrometer with custom multi-band filters to simultaneously image 15 spectral bandpasses between 430 and 975 nm with an average spectral resolution of R=λ/δλ∼20. ETSI requires only moderate telescope apertures (∼2 m), is capable of characterizing an exoplanet atmosphere in as little as a single transit, enabling the selection of the most interesting targets for further characterization with other ground and space-based observatories, and is also well suited to multi-band observations of other variable and transient objects. This enables a new technique, common-path multi-band imaging, used to observe transmission spectra of exoplanets transiting bright (V<14 magnitude) stars. ETSI is capable of near photon-limited observations, with a systematic noise floor on par with the Hubble Space Telescope and below the Earth’s atmospheric amplitude scintillation noise limit. We report the as-built instrument optical and optomechanical design, detectors, control system, telescope hardware and software interfaces, and data reduction pipeline. A summary of ETSI’s science capabilities and the initial results are also included.
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a dedicated high-contrast imaging facility instrument. After six years, GPI has helped establish that the occurrence rate of Jovian planets peaks near the snow. GPI 2.0 is expected to achieve deeper contrasts, especially at small inner working angles, to extend GPI’s operating range to fainter stars, and to broaden its scientific capabilities. GPI shipped from Gemini South in 2022 and is undergoing an upgrade as part of a relocation to Gemini North. We present the status of the upgrades including replacing the current wavefront sensor with an EMCCD-based pyramid wavefront sensor, adding a broadband low spectral resolution prism, new apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph designs, upgrades of the calibration wavefront sensor and increased queue operability. Further we discuss the progress of reintegrating these components into the new system and the expected performance improvements in the context of GPI 2.0’s enhanced science capabilities.
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), is a facility class instrument for the Gemini Observatory with the primary goal of directly detecting young Jovian planets. After spending 2013 - 2020 at Gemini South, the instrument is currently undergoing maintenance and upgrades before its transition to Gemini North as GPI 2.0. Among the upgrades are significant changes to the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS), including the installation of new prisms, Lyot stops/apodizers, and filters. The upgrades are expected to improve overall performance in the relevant wavelengths and angular separations needed for GPI 2.0.
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high-contrast imaging instrument designed to directly detect and characterize young, Jupiter-mass exoplanets. After six years of operation at Gemini South in Chile, the instrument is being upgraded and relocated to Gemini North in Hawaii as GPI 2.0. GPI helped establish that Jovian-mass planets have a higher occurrence rate at smaller separations, motivating several sub-system upgrades to obtain deeper contrasts (up to 20 times improvement to the current limit), particularly at small inner working angles. This enables access to additional science areas for GPI 2.0, including low-mass stars, young nearby stars, solar system objects, planet formation in disks, and planet variability. The necessary instrumental changes required toenable these new scientific goals are to (i) the adaptive optics system, by replacing the current Shack-Hartmann Wavefront Sensor (WFS) with a pyramid WFS and a custom EMCCD, (ii) the integral field spectrograph, by employing a new set of prisms to enable an additional broadband (Y-K band) low spectral resolution mode, as well as replacing the pupil viewer camera with a faster, lower noise C-RED2 camera (iii) the calibration interferometer, by upgrading the low-order WFS used for internal alignment and on-sky target tracking with a C-RED2 camera and replacing the calibration high-order WFS used for measuring and correcting non-common path aberrations with a self coherent camera, (iv) the apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph designs and (v) the software, to enable high-efficiency queue operations at Gemini North. GPI 2.0 is expected to go on-sky in early 2024. Here I will present the new scientific goals, the key upgrades, the current status and the latest timeline for operations.
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a facility class instrument for the Gemini Observatory with the primary goal of directly detecting young Jovian planets. After several years of successful operations on sky at Gemini South, GPI is undergoing an upgrade at the University of Notre Dame and is being moved to Gemini North. We present the current performance results, from in-lab testing, for several of the upgraded components to the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) and the Calibration Wavefront Sensor (CAL) for GPI 2.0. These upgrades include changes to the IFS dispersion prisms, changes to the pupil viewing cameras, and changes to the low order wavefront sensor. These improvements are designed to improve the magnitude and contrast range of GPI. We describe the alignment of several components, their noise characteristics, and their performance in the GPI environment.
GPI is a facility instrument designed for the direct detection and characterization of young Jupiter mass exoplanets. GPI has helped establish that the occurrence rate of Jovian planets peaks near the snow line (~3 AU), and falls off toward larger separations. This motivates an upgrade of GPI to achieve deeper contrasts, especially at small inner working angles, to extend GPI’s operating range to fainter stars, and to broaden its scientific capabilities, all while leveraging its historical success. GPI was packed and shipped in 2022, and is undergoing a major science-driven upgrade. We present the status and purpose of the upgrades including an EMCCD-based pyramid wavefront sensor, broadband low spectral resolution prisms, new apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph designs, upgrades of the calibration wavefront sensor and increased queue operability. We discuss the expected performance improvements and enhanced science capabilities to be made available in 2024.
The Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager (ETSI) amalgamates a low resolution slitless prism spectrometer with custom multiband filters to simultaneously image 15 spectral bandpasses between 430 nm and 975 nm with an average spectral resolution of R = λ/∆λ ∼ 20. This enables a new technique, common-path multi-band imaging (CMI), used to observe transmission spectra of exoplanets transiting bright (V<14th mag.) stars. ETSI is capable of near photon limited observations, with a systematic noise floor on par with the Hubble Space Telescope and below the Earth’s atmospheric amplitude scintillation noise limit. We report the as-built instrument optical and optomechanical design, detectors, control system, telescope hardware and software interfaces, data reduction pipeline, and upcoming science observations. We discuss ETSI’s science capabilities and the results of our initial April 2022 commissioning run. ETSI requires only moderate telescope apertures (∼ 2 m) and is capable of characterizing the atmospheres of dozens of exoplanets per year, enabling selection of the most interesting targets for further characterization with other ground and space-based observatories.
Direct imaging characterization of extrasolar planets is often done at low spectral resolution. We model the spectrograph for the Gemini Planet Imager upgrade (GPI 2.0) and assess the instrument’s potential for allowing observers to constrain exoplanet properties through analysis of near-infrared spectra. We simulated noisy observations followed by calculations of posterior distributions from maximum likelihood comparison with the Sonora 2018 model grid. Preliminary results suggest that GPI 2.0 should allow observers to constrain temperature with sufficient accuracy, but gravity remains largely uncertain. We also explore the effects of incorporating convolution with the instrument line spread function into our simulation and compare the results with our preliminary findings.
We present the design of a novel instrument tuned to detect transiting exoplanet atmospheres. The instrument, which we call the exoplanet transmission spectroscopy imager (ETSI), makes use of a new technique called common-path multi-band imaging (CMI). ETSI uses a prism and multi-band filter to simultaneously image 15 spectral bandpasses on two detectors from 430 975nm (with an average spectral resolution of R = λ/∆λ = 23) during exoplanet transits of a bright star. A prototype of the instrument achieved photon-noise limited results which were below the atmospheric amplitude scintillation noise limit. ETSI can detect the presence and composition of an exoplanet atmosphere in a relatively short time on a modest-size telescope. We show the optical design of the instrument. Further, we discuss design trades of the prism and multi-band filter which are driven by the science of the ETSI instrument. We describe the upcoming survey with ETSI that will measure dozens of exoplanet atmosphere spectra in ~2 years on a two meter telescope. Finally, we will discuss how ETSI will be a powerful means for follow up on all gas giant exoplanets that transit bright stars, including a multitude of recently identified TESS (NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) exoplanets.
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high-contrast imaging instrument designed to directly image and characterize exoplanets. GPI is currently undergoing several upgrades to improve performance. In this paper, we discuss the upgrades to the GPI IFS. This primarily focuses on the design and performance improvements of new prisms and filters. This includes an improved high-resolution prism which will provide more evenly dispersed spectra across y, J, H and K-bands. Additionally, we discuss the design and implementation of a new low-resolution mode and prism which allow for imaging of all four bands (y, J, H and K-bands) simultaneously at R≈10. We explore the possibility of using a multiband filter which would block the light between the four spectral bands. We discuss possible performance improvements from the multiband filter, if implemented. Finally we explore the possibility of making small changes to the optical design to improve the IFS’s performance near the edge of the field of view.
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a dedicated high-contrast imaging facility designed for the direct detection and characterization of young Jupiter mass exoplanets. After six yrs of operation at Gemini South, GPI has helped establish that Jovian planets are rare at wide separations, but have higher occurrence rates at small separations. This motivates an upgrade of GPI to achieve deeper contrasts, especially at small inner working angles, while leveraging its current capabilities. GPI has been funded to undergo a major science-driven upgrade as part of a relocation to Gemini North (GN). Gemini plans to remove GPI at the end of 2020A. We present the status of the proposed upgrades to GPI including a EMCCD-based pyramid wavefront sensor, broadband low spectral resolution prisms and new apodized-pupil Lyot coronagraph designs. We discuss the expected performance improvements in the context of GPI 2.0's enhanced science capabilities which are scheduled to be made available at GN in 2022.
We successfully rapid-prototyped a mostly off-the-shelf, partially 3D-printed pathfinder version of an integral field spectrograph (IFS) in order to compress the design/build/test schedule of a final, mostly-custom IFS, by accelerating the start date of data pipeline development, thus allowing this development to progress in parallel with the design, procurement, fabrication, and alignment of the final IFS version. This parallel-path development schedule enabled us to successfully design, build, align, test, and extract a data cube from the new IFS within only 1 year, even in the face of several design setbacks. We have begun using the now-functional IFS for development of IFS sensing and control algorithms, and have also begun implementing motorized alignment upgrades that enable the systematic characterization of the tolerance (or required compensation) of its data cube extraction to misaligned images, in support of NASA’s WFIRST and PISCES IFS.
Future space-based observatories such as WFIRST will be equipped with high contrast imaging instruments designed to study extrasolar planets and disks in the absence of atmospheric perturbations. One of the most efficient techniques to achieve this goal is the combination of wavefront control and broadband coronagraphy. Being able to achieve a high contrast over a wide spectral bandwidth allows us to characterize the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres using an integral field spectrograph (IFS). In this paper, we report on the development of such an IFS for the High Contrast Imaging Lab (HCIL) at Princeton University, downstream of a Shaped Pupil coronagraph. Our final lensletbased design calls for the light in an 18% band around 660 nm to be dispersed with a spectral resolution of 50. We also present our new laboratory control software written in Python, allowing the import of open-source packages such as CRISPY to ultimately reconstruct 3D datacubes from IFS spatio-spectral science images. Finally, we show and discuss our preliminary first light results, reaching a contrast of ~10-5 using in-house focal-plane wavefront control and estimation algorithms with two deformable mirrors.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Calibration, Spectrographs, Point spread functions, Signal to noise ratio, Photometry, Iterated function systems, Spectral resolution, Gemini Planet Imager, K band
We present the data reduction pipeline for CHARIS, a high-contrast integral-field spectrograph for the Subaru Telescope. The pipeline constructs a ramp from the raw reads using the measured nonlinear pixel response and reconstructs the data cube using one of three extraction algorithms: aperture photometry, optimal extraction, or χ2 fitting. We measure and apply both a detector flatfield and a lenslet flatfield and reconstruct the wavelength- and position-dependent lenslet point-spread function (PSF) from images taken with a tunable laser. We use these measured PSFs to implement a χ2-based extraction of the data cube, with typical residuals of ∼5% due to imperfect models of the undersampled lenslet PSFs. The full two-dimensional residual of the χ2 extraction allows us to model and remove correlated read noise, dramatically improving CHARIS’s performance. The χ2 extraction produces a data cube that has been deconvolved with the line-spread function and never performs any interpolations of either the data or the individual lenslet spectra. The extracted data cube also includes uncertainties for each spatial and spectral measurement. CHARIS’s software is parallelized, written in Python and Cython, and freely available on github with a separate documentation page. Astrometric and spectrophotometric calibrations of the data cubes and PSF subtraction will be treated in a forthcoming paper.
The Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS) is an integral field spectrograph (IFS) that has been built for the Subaru telescope. CHARIS has two imaging modes; the high-resolution mode is R82, R69, and R82 in J, H, and K bands respectively while the low-resolution discovery mode uses a second low-resolution prism with R19 spanning 1.15-2.37 microns (J+H+K bands). The discovery mode is meant to augment the low inner working angle of the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) adaptive optics system, which feeds CHARIS a coronagraphic image. The goal is to detect and characterize brown dwarfs and hot Jovian planets down to contrasts five orders of magnitude dimmer than their parent star at an inner working angle as low as 80 milliarcseconds. CHARIS constrains spectral crosstalk through several key aspects of the optical design. Additionally, the repeatability of alignment of certain optical components is critical to the calibrations required for the data pipeline. Specifically, the relative alignment of the lenslet array, prism, and detector must be highly stable and repeatable between imaging modes. We report on the measured repeatability and stability of these mechanisms, measurements of spectral crosstalk in the instrument, and the propagation of these errors through the data pipeline. Another key design feature of CHARIS is the prism, which pairs Barium Fluoride with Ohara L-BBH2 high index glass. The dispersion of the prism is significantly more uniform than other glass choices, and the CHARIS prisms represent the first NIR astronomical instrument that uses L-BBH2 as the high index material. This material choice was key to the utility of the discovery mode, so significant efforts were put into cryogenic characterization of the material. The final performance of the prism assemblies in their operating environment is described in detail. The spectrograph is going through final alignment, cryogenic cycling, and is being delivered to the Subaru telescope in April 2016. This paper is a report on the laboratory performance of the spectrograph, and its current status in the commissioning process so that observers will better understand the instrument capabilities. We will also discuss the lessons learned during the testing process and their impact on future high-contrast imaging spectrographs for wavefront control.
The Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS) is an integral field spectrograph (IFS) being built for the Subaru telescope. CHARIS will take spectra of brown dwarfs and hot Jovian planets in the coronagraphic image provided by the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) and AO188 adaptive optics systems.1, 2 The system is designed to detect objects five orders of magnitude dimmer than their parent star down to an 80 milliarcsecond inner working angle. For characterization, CHARIS has a high-resolution prism providing an average spectral resolution of R82, R69, and R82 in J, H, and K bands respectively. The so-called discovery mode uses a second low-resolution prism with an average spectral resolution of R19 spanning 1.15-2.37 microns (J+H+K bands). This is unique compared to other high contrast IFS designs. It augments low inner working angle performance by reducing the separation at which we can rely on spectral differential imaging. The principal challenge for a high-contrast IFS is quasi-static speckles, which cause undue levels of spectral crosstalk. CHARIS has addressed this through several key design aspects that should constrain crosstalk between adjacent spectral features to be below 1%. Sitting on the Nasmyth platform, the alignment between the lenslet array, prism, and detector will be highly stable, key for the performance of the data pipeline. Nearly every component has arrived and the project is entering its final build phase. Here we review the science case, the resulting design, status of final construction, and lessons learned that are directly applicable to future exoplanet instruments.
We describe the expected scientific capabilities of CHARIS, a high-contrast integral-field spectrograph (IFS) currently under construction for the Subaru telescope. CHARIS is part of a new generation of instruments, enabled by extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems (including SCExAO at Subaru), that promise greatly improved contrasts at small angular separation thanks to their ability to use spectral information to distinguish planets from quasistatic speckles in the stellar point-spread function (PSF). CHARIS is similar in concept to GPI and SPHERE, on Gemini South and the Very Large Telescope, respectively, but will be unique in its ability to simultaneously cover the entire near-infrared J, H, and K bands with a low-resolution mode. This extraordinarily broad wavelength coverage will enable spectral differential imaging down to angular separations of a few λ/D, corresponding to ~0".1. SCExAO will also offer contrast approaching 10-5 at similar separations, ~0".1–0".2. The discovery yield of a CHARIS survey will depend on the exoplanet distribution function at around 10 AU. If the distribution of planets discovered by radial velocity surveys extends unchanged to ~20 AU, observations of ~200 mostly young, nearby stars targeted by existing high-contrast instruments might find ~1–3 planets. Carefully optimizing the target sample could improve this yield by a factor of a few, while an upturn in frequency at a few AU could also increase the number of detections. CHARIS, with a higher spectral resolution mode of R ~ 75, will also be among the best instruments to characterize planets and brown dwarfs like HR 8799 cde and κ and b.
Princeton University is building the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS),
an integral field spectrograph (IFS) for the Subaru telescope. CHARIS is funded by the National Astronomical
Observatory of Japan and is designed to take high contrast spectra of brown dwarfs and hot Jovian planets in
the coronagraphic image provided by the Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) and the AO188
adaptive optics systems. The project is now in the build and test phase at Princeton University. Once laboratory
testing has been completed CHARIS will be integrated with SCExAO and AO188 in the winter of 2016. CHARIS
has a high-resolution characterization mode in J, H, and K bands. The average spectral resolution in J, H, and
K bands are R82, R68, and R82 respectively, the uniformity of which is a direct result of a new high index
material, L-BBH2. CHARIS also has a second low-resolution imaging mode that spans J,H, and K bands with
an average spectral resolution of R19, a feature unique to this instrument. The field of view in both imaging
modes is 2.07x2.07 arcseconds. SCExAO+CHARIS will detect objects five orders of magnitude dimmer than
their parent star down to an 80 milliarcsecond inner working angle. The primary challenge with exoplanet
imaging is the presence of quasi-static speckles in the coronagraphic image. SCExAO has a wavefront control
system to suppress these speckles and CHARIS will address their impact on spectral crosstalk through hardware
design, which drives its optical and mechanical design. CHARIS constrains crosstalk to be below 1% for an
adjacent source that is a full order of magnitude brighter than the neighboring spectra. Since CHARIS is on the
Nasmyth platform, the optical alignment between the lenslet array and prism is highly stable. This improves the
stability of the spectra and their orientation on the detector and results in greater stability in the wavelength
solution for the data pipeline. This means less uncertainty in the post-processing and less overhead for on-sky
calibration procedures required by the data pipeline. Here we present the science case, design, and construction
status of CHARIS. The design and lessons learned from testing CHARIS highlights the choices that must be
considered to design an IFS for high signal-to-noise spectra in a coronagraphic image. The design considerations
and lessons learned are directly applicable to future exoplanet instrumentation for extremely large telescopes
and space observatories capable of detecting rocky planets in the habitable zone.
ERIS is an image simulator for CHARIS, the high-contrast exoplanet integral field spectrograph (IFS) being built at Princeton University for the Subaru telescope. We present here the software design and implementation of the ERIS code. ERIS simulates CHARIS FITS images and data cubes that are used for developing the data reduction pipeline and verifying the expected CHARIS performance. Components of the software include detailed models of the light source (such as a star or exoplanet), atmosphere, telescope, adaptive optics systems (AO188 and SCExAO), CHARIS IFS and the Hawaii2-RG infrared detector. Code includes novel details such as the phase errors at the lenslet array, optical wavefront error maps and pinholes for reducing crosstalk, just to list a few. The details of the code as well as several simulated images are presented in this paper. This IFS simulator is critical for the CHARIS data analysis pipeline development, minimizing troubleshooting in the lab and on-sky and the characterization of crosstalk.
Princeton University is building an integral field spectrograph (IFS), the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS), for integration with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system and the AO188 adaptive optics system on the Subaru telescope. CHARIS and SCExAO will measure spectra of hot, young Jovian planets in a coronagraphic image across J, H, and K bands down to an 80 milliarcsecond inner working angle. SCExAO’s coronagraphs and wavefront control system will make it possible to detect companions five orders of magnitude dimmer than their parent star. However, quasi-static speckles in the image contaminate the signal from the planet. In an IFS this also causes uncertainty in the spectra due to diffractive cross-contamination, commonly referred to as crosstalk. Post-processing techniques can subtract these speckles, but they can potentially skew spectral measurements, become less effective at small angular separation, and at best can only reduce the crosstalk down to the photon noise limit of the contaminating signal. CHARIS will address crosstalk effects of a high contrast image through hardware design, which drives the optical and mechanical design of the assembly. The work presented here sheds light on the optical and mechanical considerations taken in designing the IFS to provide high signal-to-noise spectra in a coronagraphic image from and extreme adaptive optics image. The design considerations and lessons learned are directly applicable to future exoplanet instrumentation for extremely large telescopes and space observatories capable of detecting rocky planets in the habitable zone.
High-contrast imaging techniques now make possible both imaging and spectroscopy of planets around nearby stars. We present the optical design for the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS), a lenslet-based, cryogenic integral field spectrograph (IFS) for imaging exoplanets on the Subaru telescope. The IFS will provide spectral information for 138 × 138 spatial elements over a 2.07 arcsec × 2.07 arcsec field of view (FOV). CHARIS will operate in the near infrared (λ = 1.15 - 2.5μm) and will feature two spectral resolution modes of R ~ 18 (low-res mode) and R ~ 73 (high-res mode). Taking advantage of the Subaru telescope adaptive optics systems and coronagraphs (AO188 and SCExAO), CHARIS will provide sufficient contrast to obtain spectra of young self-luminous Jupiter-mass exoplanets. CHARIS will undergo CDR in October 2013 and is projected to have first light by the end of 2015. We report here on the current optical design of CHARIS and its unique innovations.
Recent developments in high-contrast imaging techniques now make possible both imaging and spectroscopy of planets around nearby stars. We present the conceptual design of the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS), a lenslet-based, cryogenic integral field spectrograph (IFS) for imaging exo-planets on the Subaru telescope. The IFS will provide spectral information for 140x140 spatial elements over a 1.75 arcsecs x 1.75 arcsecs field of view (FOV). CHARIS will operate in the near infrared (λ = 0.9-2.5μm) and provide a spectral resolution of R = 14, 33, and 65 in three separate observing modes. Taking advantage of the adaptive optics systems and advanced coronagraphs (AO188 and SCExAO) on the Subaru telescope, CHARIS will provide sufficient contrast to obtain spectra of young self-luminous Jupiter-mass exoplanets. CHARIS is in the early design phases and is projected to have first light by the end of 2015. We report here on the current conceptual design of CHARIS and the design challenges.
Ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive-optics (AO) systems and specialized science cameras are now capable of directly detecting extrasolar planets. We present the expected scientific capabilities of CHARIS, the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph, which is being built for the Subaru 8.2 m telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. CHARIS will be implemented behind the new extreme adaptive optics system at Subaru, SCExAO, and the existing 188-actuator system AO188. CHARIS will offer three observing modes over near-infrared wavelengths from 0.9 to 2.4 μm (the y-, J-, H-, and K-bands), including a low-spectral-resolution mode covering this entire wavelength range and a high-resolution mode within a single band. With these capabilities, CHARIS will offer exceptional sensitivity for discovering giant exoplanets, and will enable detailed characterization of their atmospheres. CHARIS, the only planned high-contrast integral field spectrograph on an 8m-class telescope in the Northern Hemisphere, will complement the similar instruments such as Project 1640 at Palomar, and GPI and SPHERE in Chile.
We have constructed a high-speed image stabilization system, BESSEL, that is capable of performing
wavefront correction at a rate exceeding 1 kHz. BESSEL achieved on-sky Strehl ratios of 98-99% at 800 nm
as we approached the inner scale of atmospheric turbulence when the refractor telescope aperture was stopped
down to 25.4 mm (~r0/2). This is better than expected from Kolmogorov theory, indicating that at D ~r0/2 we
are within the inner scale of turbulence. Utilizing high Strehls and the technique of roll subtraction enabled
BESSEL to resolve the binary, ADS 10418AB, with separation of only 0.71 λ/D and a delta magnitude of ~3 mags at 800 nm. BESSEL's capability to produce high Strehls ratios means that the instrument can be used to test the performance of interference/phase coronagraphs on-sky for the first time. Integrated
with an optical vortex coronagraph, BESSEL is capable of nulling the first airy ring of Betelgeuse by more
then a factor of ten.
The optical vortex coronagraph is a promising scheme for achieving high contrast low loss imaging
of exoplanets as close as 2λ/D from the parent star. We describe results using a high precision
vortex lens that was fabricated using electron-beam lithography. We also report demonstrations of
the coronagraph on a telescope employing a tip-tilt corrector.
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