Laboratory demonstration of the triple-grating vector vortex coronagraph
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Abstract
The future Habitable Worlds Observatory aims to characterize the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets around solar-type stars. The vector vortex coronagraph (VVC) is a main candidate to reach the required contrast of 10−10. However, the VVC requires polarization filtering and every observing band requires a different VVC. The triple-grating vector vortex coronagraph (tgVVC) aims to mitigate these limitations by combining multiple gratings that minimize the polarization leakage over a large spectral bandwidth. In this paper, we present laboratory results of a tgVVC prototype using the In-Air Coronagraphic Testbed (IACT) facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Space Coronagraph Optical Bench (SCoOB) at the University of Arizona Space Astrophysics Lab (UASAL). We study the coronagraphic performance with polarization filtering at 633 nm and reach a similar average contrast of 2 × 10−8 between 3-18 λ/D at the IACT, and 6 × 10−8 between 3-14 λ/D at SCoOB. We explore the limitations of the tgVVC by comparing the testbed results. We report on other manufacturing errors and ways to mitigate their impact.
Authors 8
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David S. Doelman Aachen
Affiliation as printed
Leiden University
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Mireille Ouellet Aachen
Affiliation as printed
Leiden University
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Affiliation as printed
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Affiliation as printed
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Affiliation as printed
University of Arizona,
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Affiliation as printed
University of Arizona,
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Affiliation as printed
University of Arizona,
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Frans Snik Aachen
Affiliation as printed
Leiden University
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