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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Laginja, Iva, Doelman, David, Snik, Frans, Baudoz, Pierre, Bettonvil, Felix, Rietjens, Jeroen H., van Dijk, Chris N., Peeters, Kristien, Eigenraam, Alexander, Pougheon, Erin, van der Wielen, Tom, Esposito, Marco, Wijnen, Thomas, Krasteva, Mariya, Taccola, Matteo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.14723
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author Laginja, Iva
Doelman, David
Snik, Frans
Baudoz, Pierre
Bettonvil, Felix
Rietjens, Jeroen H.
van Dijk, Chris N.
Peeters, Kristien
Eigenraam, Alexander
Pougheon, Erin
van der Wielen, Tom
Esposito, Marco
Wijnen, Thomas
Krasteva, Mariya
Taccola, Matteo
author_facet Laginja, Iva
Doelman, David
Snik, Frans
Baudoz, Pierre
Bettonvil, Felix
Rietjens, Jeroen H.
van Dijk, Chris N.
Peeters, Kristien
Eigenraam, Alexander
Pougheon, Erin
van der Wielen, Tom
Esposito, Marco
Wijnen, Thomas
Krasteva, Mariya
Taccola, Matteo
contents This paper presents initial results from the ESA-funded ``SUPPPPRESS'' project, which aims to develop high-performance liquid-crystal coronagraphs for direct imaging of Earth-like exoplanets in reflected light. The project focuses on addressing the significant challenge of polarization leakage in vector vortex coronagraphs (VVCs). We utilize newly manufactured multi-grating, liquid-crystal VVCs, consisting of a two- or three-element stack of vortex and grating patterns, to reduce this leakage to the $10^{-10}$ contrast level. We detail the experimental setups, including calibration techniques with polarization microscopes and Mueller matrix ellipsometers to enhance the direct-write accuracy of the liquid-crystal patterns. The performance testing of these coronagraph masks will be conducted on the THD2 high-contrast imaging testbed in Paris.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_14723
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Prototyping liquid-crystal coronagraphs for exo-Earth imaging
Laginja, Iva
Doelman, David
Snik, Frans
Baudoz, Pierre
Bettonvil, Felix
Rietjens, Jeroen H.
van Dijk, Chris N.
Peeters, Kristien
Eigenraam, Alexander
Pougheon, Erin
van der Wielen, Tom
Esposito, Marco
Wijnen, Thomas
Krasteva, Mariya
Taccola, Matteo
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
This paper presents initial results from the ESA-funded ``SUPPPPRESS'' project, which aims to develop high-performance liquid-crystal coronagraphs for direct imaging of Earth-like exoplanets in reflected light. The project focuses on addressing the significant challenge of polarization leakage in vector vortex coronagraphs (VVCs). We utilize newly manufactured multi-grating, liquid-crystal VVCs, consisting of a two- or three-element stack of vortex and grating patterns, to reduce this leakage to the $10^{-10}$ contrast level. We detail the experimental setups, including calibration techniques with polarization microscopes and Mueller matrix ellipsometers to enhance the direct-write accuracy of the liquid-crystal patterns. The performance testing of these coronagraph masks will be conducted on the THD2 high-contrast imaging testbed in Paris.
title Prototyping liquid-crystal coronagraphs for exo-Earth imaging
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.14723