Four-quadrant phase mask: analytical calculation and pupil geometry

James P. Lloyd; Donald T. Gavel; James R. Graham; Philip E. Hodge; Anand Sivaramakrishnan; G. Mark Voit

doi:10.1117/12.457880

3 March 2003 Four-quadrant phase mask coronagraph: analytical calculation and pupil geometry

James P. Lloyd, Donald T. Gavel, James R. Graham, Philip E. Hodge, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, G. Mark Voit

Proceedings Volume 4860, High-Contrast Imaging for Exo-Planet Detection; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457880
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

Of the many novel coronagraphic and nulling techniques that have been suggested to improve image contrast for exoplanet detection, one of the most promising is the Quadrant Phase Mask suggested by Rouan et al. Analysis of this optical system has previously been performed by discrete Fourier transform methods, that result in systematic errors due to the implicit assumptions of the methods and mathematical singularities in the transform of the phase mask. In this paper, we describe an analytical treatment of this optical system that treats these singularities explicitly. We calculate the leakage of a Quadrant Phase Mask Coronagraph with these analytical techniques, and show that a Quadrant Phase Mask rejects all on-axis light for an unaberrated, unobscured circular aperture and is therefore a nearly perfect coronagraph. We demonstrate why the Quadrant Phase Mask coronagraph suffers degraded performance with an obscured aperture, and propose modifications to the pupil geometry to mitigate this problem.

Citation Download Citation

James P. Lloyd, Donald T. Gavel, James R. Graham, Philip E. Hodge, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, and G. Mark Voit "Four-quadrant phase mask coronagraph: analytical calculation and pupil geometry", Proc. SPIE 4860, High-Contrast Imaging for Exo-Planet Detection, (3 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457880

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