Wavefront control for experimental verification of simulated contrast performance for the AstroPIC photonic coronagraph

Le résumé fourni par la source

Photonic coronagraphy has the potential to dramatically improve our ability to target faint, small-separation exoplanets with future missions such as the HabitableWorlds Observatory. A practical photonic integrated circuit (PIC) coronagraph will need to be able to create a dark zone in multiple output channels (in order to provide spatial and potentially spectral information about detected exoplanets) and have finite spectral bandwidth. We have previously shown in simulation that a PIC with a relatively small number of input and output channels is capable of creating a ∼ 2% spectral band with 10−10 contrast in a single output channel, and is capable of creating a monochromatic dark zone in multiple output channels simultaneously in the presence of directional coupler biases. Simulation work was performed assuming a 9-input, 9-output triangular mesh PIC, which corresponds to the AstroPIC Cycle 1 laboratory experiment. We follow up on these results by modeling effects observed in the lab with AstroPIC, and using this model to develop wavefront control for upcoming verification experiments with AstroPIC. We adapt the optimization routine used in simulation for upcoming lab experiments and demonstrate digging a broadband dark zone with limited model knowledge of the AstroPIC chip. We report on the performance of photonic coronagraphs across axes of bandwidth, number of channels, and number of modes suppressed with ideal model knowledge, and compare with wavefront control using limited model knowledge. We discuss plans for implementation of lab demonstrations for broadband and multi-channel dark zones with hardware currently being installed.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.