Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Belikov, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Belikov, R..

4 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Techniques for High Contrast Imaging in Multi-Star Systems II: Multi-Star Wavefront Control

Direct imaging of exoplanets represents a challenge for astronomical instrumentation due to the high-contrast ratio and small angular separation between the host star and the faint planet. Multi-star systems pose additional challenges for coronagraphic instruments because of the diffraction and aberration leakage introduced by the additional stars, and as a result are not planned to be on direct imaging target lists. Multi-star wavefront control (MSWC) is a technique that uses a coronagraphic instrument's deformable mirror (DM) to create high-contrast regions in the focal plane in the presence of multiple stars. Our previous paper introduced the Super-Nyquist Wavefront Control (SNWC) technique that uses a diffraction grating to enable the DM to generate high-contrast regions beyond the nominal controllable region. These two techniques can be combined to generate high-contrast regions for multi-star systems at any angular separations. As a case study, a high-contrast wavefront control (WC) simulation that applies these techniques shows that the habitable region of the Alpha Centauri system can be imaged reaching 8 times 10(exp -9) mean contrast in 10 percent broadband light in one-sided dark holes from 1.6-5.5 lambda (wavelength) divided by D (distance).

Sirbu, D.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Survey of Experimental Results in High-Contrast Imaging for Future Exoplanet Missions

We present and compare experimental results in high contrast imaging representing the state of the art in coronagraph and starshade technology. These experiments have been undertaken with the goal of demonstrating the capability of detecting Earth-like planets around nearby Sun-like stars. The contrast of an Earth seen in reflected light around a Sun-like star would be about 1.2 x 10(exp -10). Several of the current candidate technologies now yield raw contrasts of 1.0 x 10(exp -9) or better, and so should enable the detection of Earths, assuming a gain in sensitivity in post-processing of a factor of 10. We present results of coronagraph and starshade experiments conducted at visible and infrared wavelengths. Cross-sections of dark fields are directly compared as a function of field angle and bandwidth. The strength and differences of the techniques are compared.

starlight suppression↗