We propose a multiconjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) system called pupil-transformation MCAO (PT-MCAO) for solar high-angular resolution imaging over a large field of view. The PT-MCAO, consisting of two deformable mirrors (DMs), uses a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor located on the telescope pupil to measure the wavefront slopes from several guide stars. The average slopes are used to control the first DM conjugated on the telescope aperture by a solar ground-layer adaptive optics (AO) approach while the remaining slopes are used to control the second DM conjugated on a high altitude by a conventional solar AO via a geometric PT. The PT-MCAO uses a similar hardware configuration as the conventional star-oriented MCAO. However, a distinctive feature of our PT-MCAO is that it avoids the construction of tomography wavefront, which is a time-consuming and complex process for the solar real-time atmospheric turbulence correction. For the PT-MCAO, current widely used and fully understood conventional solar AO closed-loop control algorithms can be directly used to control the two DMs, which greatly reduces the real-time calculation power requirement and makes the PT-MCAO easy to implement. In this publication, we discuss the PT-MCAO methodology, its unique features, and compare its performance with that of the conventional solar star-oriented MCAO systems, which demonstrate that the PT-MCAO can be immediately used for solar high-resolution imaging.
Almost all high-contrast imaging coronagraphs proposed until now are based on passive coronagraph optical
components. Recently, Ren and Zhu proposed for the first time a coronagraph that integrates a liquid crystal array (LCA)
for the active pupil apodizing and a deformable mirror (DM) for the phase corrections. Here, for demonstration purpose,
we present the initial test result of a coronagraphic system that is based on two liquid crystal spatial light modulators
(SLM). In the system, one SLM is served as active pupil apodizing and amplitude correction to suppress the diffraction
light; another SLM is used to correct the speckle noise that is caused by the wave-front distortions. In this way, both
amplitude and phase error can be actively and efficiently compensated. In the test, we use the stochastic parallel gradient
descent (SPGD) algorithm to control two SLMs, which is based on the point spread function (PSF) sensing and
evaluation and optimized for a maximum contrast in the discovery area. Finally, it has demonstrated a contrast of 10-6 at an inner working angular distance of ~6.2 λ/D, which is a promising technique to be used for the direct imaging of young exoplanets on ground-based telescopes.
We have developed a portable solar and stellar adaptive optics (PSSAO) system, which is optimized for solar and stellar high-resolution imaging in the near infrared wavelength range. Our PSSAO features compact physical size, low cost and high performance. The AO software is based on LabVIEW programing and the mechanical and optical components are based on off-the-shelf commercial components, which make a high quality, duplicable and rapid developed AO system possible. In addition, our AO software is flexible, and can be used with different telescopes with or without central obstruction. We discuss our portable AO design philosophy, and present our recent on-site observation results. According to our knowledge, this is the first portable adaptive optics in the world that is able to work for solar and stellar high-resolution imaging with good performances.
We propose a dual-beam polarimetry differential imaging test system that can be used for the direct imaging of the
exoplanets. The system is composed of a liquid crystal variable retarder (LCVR) in the pupil to switch between two
orthogonal polarized states, and a Wollaston prism (WP) that will be inserted before the final focal focus of the system to
create two polarized images for the differential subtraction. Such a system can work separately or be integrated in the
coronagraph system to enhance the high-contrast imaging. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system, here
we show the initial test result both with and without integrating our developed coronagraph. A unique feature for this
system is that each channel can subtract with itself by using the retarder to rotate the planet's polarization orientation,
which has the best performance according to our lab test results. Finally, it is shown that the polarimetry differential
imaging system is a promising technique and can be used for the direct imaging observation of reflected lights from the
exoplanets.
We propose a polarimetry imaging subtraction test system that can be used for the direct imaging of the reflected light
from exoplanets. Such a system will be able to remove the speckle noise scattered by the wave-front error and thus can
enhance the high-contrast imaging. In this system, we use a Wollaston Prism (WP) to divide the incoming light into two
simultaneous images with perpendicular linear polarizations. One of the images is used as the reference image. Then
both the phase and geometric distortion corrections have been performed on the other image. The corrected image is
subtracted with the reference image to remove the speckles. The whole procedure is based on an optimization algorithm
and the target function is to minimize the residual speckles after subtraction. For demonstration purpose, here we only
use a circular pupil in the test without integrating of our apodized-pupil coronagraph. It is shown that best result can be
gained by inducing both phase and distortion corrections. Finally, it has reached an extra contrast gain of 50-times
improvement in average, which is promising to be used for the direct imaging of exoplanets.
We present the initial test of the dark-hole correction for the high-contrast imaging coronagraph that is based on the step-transmission
filter. The dark hole is created by a 12x12 actuator deformable mirror (DM) that has been put in the
conjugate plane of the pupil image of the coronagraph. In this test, we use the stochastic parallel gradient descent
(SPGD) optimization algorithm to directly control the DM to provide an optimal phase to minimize the intensity in target
regions, where the dark hole is created and the contrast can be enhanced. For demonstration purpose, the test is carried
out in a single wavelength and should be improved in next step for broad-band high-contrast imaging. Finally, it is
shown in the test that an extra contrast ~50 times improvement has reached in the dark hole in the coronagraphic image
plane. Such a technique could be used for a future space-based high-contrast observation and is promising for the direct
imaging of an Earth-like exoplanet.
The portable solar adaptive optics is a compact adaptive optics system that will be the first visitor solar instrument in the
world. As so, it will be able to work with any solar telescope with a aperture size up to ~ 2.0 meters, which will cover the
largest solar telescope currently operational. The portable AO features small physical size, high-flexibility and high-performance,
and is a duplicable and affordable system. It will provide wave-front correction down to the 0.5-μm
wavelength, and will be used for solar high-resolution imaging in the near infrared and the visible. It will be the first AO
system that uses LabVIEW based high quality parallel and block-diagram programming, which fully takes advantage of
today's multi-core CPUs, and makes a rapid development of an AO system possible. In this publication, we report our
recent progress on the portable adaptive optics, which includes the laboratory test for performance characterization, and
initial on-site scientific observations.
We proposed a dual-channel imaging polarimetry system .It will be integrated in our coronagraph that was proposed for
direct imaging of Jupiter-like planets, providing an extra high contrast for the extra-solar planet imaging. This system
uses a Wollaston prism, which separates the unpolarized starlight and the polarized planet light. The two point images in
perpendicular polarizations are imaged simultaneously. We describe the design of the imaging polarimetry system, and
discuss the data reduction algorithm. In particular, the correction of distortion of the two channels is discussed in detail.
Liquid crystal modulator is an active optical component that is promising to replace traditional passive optical
components. For high-contrast imaging coronagraphs that are used for direct imaging of extra-solar planets, passive
coronagraph optical components are often adopted. It is impossible to actively optimize such a coronagraph system to
achieve its best performance. Thus we've proposed a novel high-contrast imaging coronagraph which uses a liquid
crystal array (LCA) for pupil apodizing. In our test, the LCA is well calibrated for amplitude errors and amplitude non-uniformity
with the entire coronagraph optics. Close-loop compensations are applied according to the amplitude
calibration results. By doing so, a contrast of 10-4 or 10-5 can be achieved in an angular distance down to 3~5λ/D, which
can be used for the direct imaging for young and Jupiter-like planets. The contrast can be further improved if a
deformable mirror (DM) is deployed to correct wave-front errors induced by the LCA and the coronagraph optics.
We propose a high-contrast coronagraph based on the step transmission filters for the direct imaging of an Earth-like
exoplanets. To demonstrate the performance of the coronagraph, two 50-step transmission filters were manufactured and
several experiments have been performed. At present, the coronagraph can reach a high contrast around 10-7 at an inner
angular distance of ~2λ/D in the visible wavelength. Such a coronagraph should be installed on an off-axis space
telescope which will be promising for the direct imaging of an Earth-like exoplanet in the future.
We present our recent process on a portable solar adaptive Optics system, which is aimed for diffraction-limited imaging
in the 1.0 ~ 5.0-μm infrared wavelength range with any solar telescope with an aperture size up to 1.6 meters. The realtime
wave-front sensing, image processing and computation are based on a commercial multi-core personal computer.
The software is developed in LabVIEW. Combining the power of multi-core imaging processing and LabVIEW parallel
programming, we show that our solar adaptive optics can achieve excellent performance that is competitive with other
systems. In addition, the LabVIEW's block diagram based programming is especially suitable for rapid development of
a prototype system, which makes a low-cost and high-performance system possible. Our adaptive optics system is
flexible; it can work with any telescope with or without central obstruction with any aperture size in the range of 0.6~1.6
meters. In addition, the whole system is compact and can be brought to a solar observatory to perform associated
scientific observations. According to our knowledge, this is the first adaptive optics that adopts the LabVIEW high-level
programming language with a multi-core commercial personal computer, and includes the unique features discussed
above.
We present the latest laboratory test of a new coronagraph using one step-transmission filter at the visible wavelength.
The primary goal of this work is to test the feasibility and stability of the coronagraph, which is designed for the
ground-based telescope especially with a central obstruction and spider structures. The transmission filter is circular
symmetrically coated with inconel film on one surface and manufactured with a precisely position-controlled physical
mask during the coating procedure. At first, the transmission tolerance of the filter is controlled within 5% for each
circular step. The target contrast of the coronagraph is set to be 10-5~10-7 at an inner working angle around 5λ/D. Based
on the high-contrast imaging test-bed in the laboratory, the point spread function image of the coronagraph is obtained
and it has delivered a contrast better than 10-6 at 5λ/D. As a follow-up effort, the transmission error should be controlled
in 2% and the transmission for such filter will be optimized in the near infrared wavelength, which should deliver better
performances. Finally, it is shown that the transmission-filter coronagraph is a promising technique to be used for the
direct imaging of exoplanets from the ground.
LAMOST is a 4m spectroscopic telescope recently operational at Xinglong, China. Several active optics are being used to remove optical aberration of the telescope, but large residual aberration exists since the active optics actuators on the telescope's segmented mirrors cannot provide enough precision. We proposed a wave-front sensing system and the corresponding algorithm to measure this low frequency residual aberration. We developed a compact Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor that can use point source as well as extended structure images for wave-front sensing and can achieve good
measurement accuracy. The wave-front sensing algorithm is realized by LabVIEW that is based on block-diagram programming and is suitable for rapid prototype development. Combined with
deformable mirrors, the system will be able to provide a fine wave-front correction and therefore eventually remove the residual aberration for LAMOST. The wave-front sensor and the DMs will also
be used for our high-contrast imaging coronagraph to remove speckle noise for the direct imaging of exoplanets.
We present the latest results of our laboratory experiment of the coronagraph with step-transmission filters. The primary
goal of this work is to test the stability of the coronagraph and identify the main factors that limit its performance. At
present, a series of step-transmission filters has been designed. These filters were manufactured with Cr film on a glass
substrate with a high surface quality. During the process of the experiment of each filter, we have identified several
contrast limiting factors, which includes the non-symmetry of the coating film, transmission error, scattered light and the
optical aberration caused by the thickness difference of coating film. To eliminate these factors, we developed a
procedure for the correct test of the coronagraph and finally it delivered a contrast in the order of 10-6~10-7 at an angular
distance of 4λD, which is well consistent with theoretical design. As a follow-up effort, a deformable mirror has been
manufactured to correct the wave-front error of the optical system, which should deliver better performance with an
extra contrast improvement in the order of 10-2~10-3. It is shown that the step-transmission filter based coronagraph is
promising for the high-contrast imaging of earth-like planets.
This paper presents the first results of a step-transmission-filter based coronagraph in the visible wavelengths. The
primary goal of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of the coronagraph that employs step-transmission filters, with
a required contrast in the order of better than 10-5 at an angular distance larger than 4λ/D. Two 13-step-transmission
filters were manufactured with 5% transmission accuracy. The precision of the transmitted wave distortion and the
coating surface quality were not strictly controlled at this time. Although in perfect case the coronagraph can achieve
theoretical contrast of 10-10, it only delivers 10-5 contrast because of the transmission error, poor surface quality and
wave-front aberration stated above, which is in our estimation. Based on current techniques, step-transmission filters
with better coating surface quality and high-precision transmission can be made. As a follow-up effort, high-quality
step-transmission filters are being manufactured, which should deliver better performance. The step-transmission-filter
based coronagraph has the potential applications for future high-contrast direct imaging of earth-like planets.
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