Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Belikov, Ruslan.
Experimental demonstration of wavefront control with shaped pupils. Contrast level is maintained across different wavelengths and 10% broadband light. Further improvements in contrast believed to have been possible with more time and parameter optimizations.
Direct imaging and characterization of exo-solar terrestrial planets require coronagraphic instruments capable of suppressing star light to 10-10. Pupil shaping masks have been proposed and designed1 at Princeton University to accomplish such a goal. Based on Princeton designs, free standing (without a substrate) silicon masks have been fabricated with lithographic and deep etching techniques. In this paper, we discuss the fabrication of such masks and present their physical and optical characteristics in relevance to their performance over the visible to near IR bandwidth.