Development of the Savart-plate lateral-shearing interferometric nuller for exoplanet (SPLINE)

Naoshi Murakami; Manabu Kida; Naoshi Baba; Taro Matsuo; Takayuki Kotani; Hajime Kawahara; Yuka Fujii; Motohide Tamura

doi:10.1117/12.925605

24 September 2012 Development of the Savart-plate lateral-shearing interferometric nuller for exoplanet (SPLINE)

Naoshi Murakami, Manabu Kida, Naoshi Baba, Taro Matsuo, Takayuki Kotani, Hajime Kawahara, Yuka Fujii, Motohide Tamura

Proceedings Volume 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV; 84468H (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925605
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

The Savart-Plate Lateral-shearing Interferometric Nuller for Exoplanet (SPLINE) is a stable and fully achromatic nulling interferometer proposed for direct detection of extrasolar planets with segmented-mirror telescopes like the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The SPLINE uses a Savart plate, a kind of polarizing beam splitter, to split a light beam into two orthogonally polarized ones with a lateral shift. The Savart plate placed between crossed polarizers causes fully achromatic destructive interference for an on-axis star light. On the other hand, planetary light from an off-axis direction does not destructively interfere due to the lateral shift. The SPLINE provides a stable interferometric output because of its simple common-path optical design without an optical-path difference control system. We carried out laboratory demonstrations of the SPLINE to evaluate its stability, achromaticity, and achievable contrast. As a result, a high contrast of >10⁴ (peak-to-peak contrast) is achieved using a broadband light source as a star model. In addition, we also propose to apply a differential imaging technique to the SPLINE for improving achievable contrast. We report our recent activities and show the results of the laboratory demonstrations.

Citation Download Citation

Naoshi Murakami, Manabu Kida, Naoshi Baba, Taro Matsuo, Takayuki Kotani, Hajime Kawahara, Yuka Fujii, and Motohide Tamura "Development of the Savart-plate lateral-shearing interferometric nuller for exoplanet (SPLINE)", Proc. SPIE 8446, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV, 84468H (24 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925605

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