Paper
3 March 2003 Optical systems engineering for a terrestrial planet finder coronagraph
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Optical coronagraphy is a promising possibility for finding and characterizing Earth-like planets that orbit nearby stars. This approach begins with a large unobscured conventional telescope, but significant modifications are needed to achieve adequate suppression of the glare of the star. Three techniques are under consideration for suppression of the aperture diffraction which redirects starlight into the planet's pixel; once this is satisfied, extraordinary precision and stability in the wavefront are needed as well to suppress scatter of the starlight into that pixel. We discuss the central choices in the setting of error budgets, a summary of key allocations in that budget, optical model results that demonstrate the operation and performance of the system, and key hardware requirements.
© (2003) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Charley Noecker, Robert A. Woodruff, and Chris Burrows "Optical systems engineering for a terrestrial planet finder coronagraph", Proc. SPIE 4860, High-Contrast Imaging for Exo-Planet Detection, (3 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457916
Lens.org Logo
CITATIONS
Cited by 5 scholarly publications.
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Planets

Wavefronts

Coronagraphy

Stars

Diffraction

Mirrors

Spatial frequencies

Back to Top