A parameter scan of dark zone maintenance for high-contrast imaging of exoplanets using theoretical and experimental implementations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Manojkumar, Saikrishna, Page, Christine L., Pogorelyuk, Leonid, Redmond, Susan F., Gill, Ajay S., Pueyo, Laurent, Por, Emiel H., Laginja, Iva, Pourcëlot, Raphael, Nickson, Bryony F., Sahoo, Ananya, Nguyen, Meiji M., Soummer, Rémi, Perrin, Marshall D., Nemati, Bijan, Cahoy, Kerri, Kasdin, Jeremy N.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Manojkumar, Saikrishna
Page, Christine L.
Pogorelyuk, Leonid
Redmond, Susan F.
Gill, Ajay S.
Pueyo, Laurent
Por, Emiel H.
Laginja, Iva
Pourcëlot, Raphael
Nickson, Bryony F.
Sahoo, Ananya
Nguyen, Meiji M.
Soummer, Rémi
Perrin, Marshall D.
Nemati, Bijan
Cahoy, Kerri
Kasdin, Jeremy N.
author_facet Manojkumar, Saikrishna
Page, Christine L.
Pogorelyuk, Leonid
Redmond, Susan F.
Gill, Ajay S.
Pueyo, Laurent
Por, Emiel H.
Laginja, Iva
Pourcëlot, Raphael
Nickson, Bryony F.
Sahoo, Ananya
Nguyen, Meiji M.
Soummer, Rémi
Perrin, Marshall D.
Nemati, Bijan
Cahoy, Kerri
Kasdin, Jeremy N.
contents Maintaining wavefront stability while directly imaging exoplanets over long exposure times is an ongoing problem in the field of high-contrast imaging. Robust and efficient high-order wavefront sensing and control systems are required for maintaining wavefront stability to counteract mechanical and thermal instabilities. Dark zone maintenance (DZM) has been proposed to address quasi-static optical aberrations and maintain high levels of contrast for coronagraphic space telescopes. To further experimentally test this approach for future missions, such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory, this paper quantifies the differences between the theoretical closed-loop contrast bounds and DZM performance on the High-contrast Imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes(HiCAT) testbed. The quantification of DZM is achieved by traversing important parameters of the system, specifically the total direct photon rate entering the aperture of the instrument, ranging from $1.85 \times 10^6$ to $1.85 \times 10^8$ photons per second, and the wavefront error drift rate, ranging from $σ_{drift}$ = 0.3 - 3 $nm/\sqrt{iteration}$, injected via the deformable mirror actuators. This is tested on the HiCAT testbed by injecting random walk drifts using two Boston Micromachines kilo deformable mirrors (DMs). The parameter scan is run on the HiCAT simulator and the HiCAT testbed where the corresponding results are compared to the model-based theoretical contrast bounds to analyze discrepancies. The results indicate an approximate one and a half order of magnitude difference between the theoretical bounds and testbed results.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_16720
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A parameter scan of dark zone maintenance for high-contrast imaging of exoplanets using theoretical and experimental implementations
Manojkumar, Saikrishna
Page, Christine L.
Pogorelyuk, Leonid
Redmond, Susan F.
Gill, Ajay S.
Pueyo, Laurent
Por, Emiel H.
Laginja, Iva
Pourcëlot, Raphael
Nickson, Bryony F.
Sahoo, Ananya
Nguyen, Meiji M.
Soummer, Rémi
Perrin, Marshall D.
Nemati, Bijan
Cahoy, Kerri
Kasdin, Jeremy N.
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Maintaining wavefront stability while directly imaging exoplanets over long exposure times is an ongoing problem in the field of high-contrast imaging. Robust and efficient high-order wavefront sensing and control systems are required for maintaining wavefront stability to counteract mechanical and thermal instabilities. Dark zone maintenance (DZM) has been proposed to address quasi-static optical aberrations and maintain high levels of contrast for coronagraphic space telescopes. To further experimentally test this approach for future missions, such as the Habitable Worlds Observatory, this paper quantifies the differences between the theoretical closed-loop contrast bounds and DZM performance on the High-contrast Imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes(HiCAT) testbed. The quantification of DZM is achieved by traversing important parameters of the system, specifically the total direct photon rate entering the aperture of the instrument, ranging from $1.85 \times 10^6$ to $1.85 \times 10^8$ photons per second, and the wavefront error drift rate, ranging from $σ_{drift}$ = 0.3 - 3 $nm/\sqrt{iteration}$, injected via the deformable mirror actuators. This is tested on the HiCAT testbed by injecting random walk drifts using two Boston Micromachines kilo deformable mirrors (DMs). The parameter scan is run on the HiCAT simulator and the HiCAT testbed where the corresponding results are compared to the model-based theoretical contrast bounds to analyze discrepancies. The results indicate an approximate one and a half order of magnitude difference between the theoretical bounds and testbed results.
title A parameter scan of dark zone maintenance for high-contrast imaging of exoplanets using theoretical and experimental implementations
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.16720