arXiv subjects

Arnaud Sevin

Publications and source records attributed to Arnaud Sevin.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

First high-contrast results on THD2 testbed after infrastructure upgrade

We present the first scientific results delivered by the upgraded THD2 high-contrast imaging testbed. We report two advances enabled by its improved stability and broadband performance. First, for the Roman Space Telescope, we demonstrate that Gaussian-shaped diversity probes outperform the baseline sinc probes by reducing non-linearities, supporting higher probe amplitudes, and improving electric field estimation efficiency. These results have led to their prioritization as an enhanced early observation for Roman. Second, within ESA's SUPPPPRESS project, we test new polarization-independent Vector Vortex Coronagraphs and design them to high-contrast performance approaching 1e-10 over a 20% bandwidth. We assess their behavior in narrow- and broadband light with active focal-plane wavefront control. Together, these results show how THD2 strengthens Europe's capability in high-contrast imaging, providing a unique platform reaching contrasts of 1e-8 to 1e-9 for developing next-generation coronagraphic technologies.

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arXiv2026

The MICADO first-light imager for the ELT: first steps of the SCAO system MAIT

MICADO is the ELT first light instrument, an imager working at the diffraction limit of the telescope thanks to two adaptive optics (AO) modes: a single conjugate one (SCAO), available at the instrument first light and developed by the MICADO consortium, and a multi conjugate one (MCAO), developed by the MORFEO consortium. Although the project final design review process is about to be completed, the review board and ESO acknowledged that "the review of the final design can be considered complete for the majority of the MICADO sub-systems" and agreed that MICADO can start manufacturing. For the MICADO SCAO module, we have started the manufacturing of several parts: the majority of the SCAO optics and of the SCAO mechanics, the real-time computer software and the instrument control software. This manufacturing is ordered in several steps to allow the progressive integration of a first full AO close loop with the final SCAO parts. In this contribution, we will focus on the first two steps: on our AO S\'esame bench and the so-called "beta flat configuration". We will present the status of this manufacturing and the first results obtained.

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arXiv2026

The MICADO first light imager for the ELT: the SCAO module AIT in France, from the beta flat configuration towards the flat and final configurations

MICADO is the designated ELT first light instrument, a near-infrared imager working at the diffraction limit of the telescope thanks to a SCAO and an MCAO mode. Since summer 2024, MICADO is in its AIT phase and all MICADO partners are currently integrating their subsystems. The MICADO SCAO module will follow three successive AIT phases in France: the beta flat configuration, the flat configuration and the final configuration. In this contribution I will first present the progress made in the AIT of the beta flat configuration and its closed loop results. I will then present the performed and on-going tasks for the flat and final configurations (manufacturing, delivery and integration of several SCAO subsystems and pieces of software) and the results obtained so far in the flat configuration. I will then conclude with the expected following steps of the SCAO module AIT in Garching.

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arXiv2026

SAXO+, the second-stage adaptive optics for SPHERE: NCPA compensation and dark-hole loop with a pyramid wavefront sensor

The SAXO+ upgrade of the VLT/SPHERE adaptive optics system introduces a second-stage near-infrared pyramid wavefront sensor to improve high-contrast imaging, making accurate calibration of non-common path aberrations (NCPAs) essential to fully exploit its performance. This work refines the expected level of NCPAs in SAXO+ and presents the calibration procedures developed for static NCPA compensation and focal-plane dark-hole control. Monte Carlo simulations based on an updated Zemax optical model were used to estimate the NCPA error budget. These simulations are in good agreement with previous measurements on SPHERE and with the assumptions adopted in earlier performance studies. We also propose a calibration strategy that offloads most static aberration correction to the first-stage deformable mirror while preserving the second-stage mirror stroke for high-speed adaptive optics correction. These results validate the expected SAXO+ optical quality and establish the calibration framework required for efficient NCPA compensation and focal-plane wavefront control during future on-sky operations.

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arXiv2024

Real-time control and data standardization on various telescopes and benches

Real-time control (RTC) is pivotal for any Adaptive Optics (AO) system, including high-contrast imaging of exoplanets and circumstellar environments. It is the brain of the AO system, and what wavefront sensing and control (WFS\&C) techniques need to work with to achieve unprecedented image quality and contrast, ultimately advancing our understanding of exoplanetary systems in the context of high contrast imaging (HCI). Developing WFS\&C algorithms first happens in simulation or a lab before deployment on-sky. The transition to on-sky testing is often challenging due to the different RTCs used. Sharing common RTC standards across labs and telescope instruments would considerably simplify this process. A data architecture based on the interprocess communication method known as shared memory is ideally suited for this purpose. The CACAO package, an example of RTC based on shared memory, was initially developed for the Subaru-SCExAO instrument and now deployed on several benches and instruments. This proceeding discusses the challenges, requirements, implementation strategies, and performance evaluations associated with integrating a shared memory-based RTC. The Santa Cruz Extreme AO Laboratory (SEAL) bench is a platform for WFS\&C development for large ground-based segmented telescopes. Currently, SEAL offers the user a non-real-time version of CACAO, a shared-memory based RTC package initially developed for the Subaru-SCExAO instrument, and now deployed on several benches and instruments. We show here the example of the SEAL RTC upgrade as a precursor to both RTC upgrade at the 3-m Shane telescopes at Lick Observatory (Shane-AO) and a future development platform for the Keck II AO. This paper is aimed at specialists in AO, astronomers, and WFS\&C scientists seeking a deeper introduction to the world of RTCs.

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arXiv2024

Numerical simulations for the SAXO+ upgrade: Performance analysis of the adaptive optics system

SPHERE, operating at the VLT since 2014, is currently one of the high-contrast instruments with a higher performance. Its adaptive optics system, known as SAXO, will be upgraded to SAXO+, which features the addition of a second stage of adaptive optics. This stage will use a near-infrared pyramid wavefront sensor to record images of fainter exoplanets around redder stars. In this work, we compare the performance of SAXO and SAXO+. We look for the optimal values of the key system parameters of SAXO+ for various science cases and turbulence conditions. We performed numerical simulations using COMPASS, an end-to-end adaptive optics simulation tool. We simulated perfect coronagraph images of an on-axis point source, and we minimized the residual starlight intensity between 3 and 5 ${\lambda}/D$ as a performance criterion. The explored parameter space includes science cases, turbulence conditions, and key system parameters. In every science case and turbulence condition, SAXO+ reduces the residual starlight intensity inside the correction zone of the second stage by a factor of ten compared to SAXO. The optimal first stage gain is lower for SAXO+ than for SAXO alone. We quantified the gain in performance of SAXO+ when changing the second stage frequency from 2 kHz to 3 kHz, and we conclude that 2 kHz may be sufficient for most realistic conditions. We give the optimal first stage gain as well as the first and second stage frequencies for every seeing, coherence time, and science case. Finally, we find that a 2 ${\lambda_{\mathrm{WFS}}}/D$ pyramid modulation radius is a good trade-off between performance and robustness against varying turbulence conditions. This study shows that the future SAXO+ system will outperform the current SAXO system in all studied cases.

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arXiv2023

SAXO+ upgrade : second stage AO system end-to-end numerical simulations

SAXO+ is a proposed upgrade to SAXO, the AO system of the SPHERE instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope. It will improve the capabilities of the instrument for the detection and characterization of young giant planets. It includes a second stage adaptive optics system composed of a dedicated near-infrared wavefront sensor and a deformable mirror. This second stage will remove the residual wavefront errors left by the current primary AO loop (SAXO). This paper focuses on the numerical simulations of the second stage (SAXO+) and concludes on the impact of the main AO parameters used to build the design strategy. Using an end-to-end AO simulation tool (COMPASS), we investigate the impact of several parameters on the performance of the AO system. We measure the performance in minimizing the star residuals in the coronagraphic image. The parameters that we study are : the second stage frequency, the photon flux on each WFS, the first stage gain and the DM number of actuators of the second stage. We show that the performance is improved by a factor 10 with respect to the current AO system (SAXO). The optimal second stage frequency is between 1 and 2 kHz under good observing conditions. In a red star case, the best SAXO+ performance is achieved with a low first stage gain of 0.05, which reduces the first stage rejection.

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arXiv2021

High contrast imaging wavefront sensor referencing from coronagraphic images

A key challenge of high contrast imaging (HCI) is to differentiate a speckle from an exoplanet signal. The sources of speckles are a combination of atmospheric residuals and aberrations in the non-common path. Those non-common path aberrations (NCPA) are particularly challenging to compensate for as they are not directly measured, and because they include static, quasi-static and dynamic components. The proposed method directly addresses the challenge of compensating the NCPA. The algorithm DrWHO - Direct Reinforcement Wavefront Heuristic Optimisation - is a quasi-real-time compensation of static and dynamic NCPA for boosting image contrast. It is an image-based lucky imaging approach, aimed at finding and continuously updating the ideal reference of the wavefront sensor (WFS) that includes the NCPA, and updating this new reference to the WFS. Doing so changes the point of convergence of the AO loop. We show here the first results of a post-coronagraphic application of DrWHO. DrWHO does not rely on any model nor requires accurate wavefront sensor calibration, and is applicable to non-linear wavefront sensing situations. We present on-sky performances using a pyramid WFS sensor with the Subaru coronagraph extreme AO (SCExAO) instrument.

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arXiv2021

On-sky validation of image-based adaptive optics wavefront sensor referencing

Differentiating between an exoplanet signal and residual speckle noise is a key challenge in high-contrast imaging. Speckles are due to a combination of fast, slow and static wavefront aberrations introduced by atmospheric turbulence and instrument optics. While wavefront control techniques developed over the last decade have shown promise in minimizing fast atmospheric residuals, slow and static aberrations such as non-common path aberrations (NCPAs) remain a key limiting factor for exoplanet detection. NCPA are not seen by the wavefront sensor (WFS) of the adaptive optics (AO) loop, hence the difficulty in correcting them. We propose to improve the identification and rejection of those aberrations. The algorithm DrWHO, performs frequent compensation of static and quasi-static aberrations to boost image contrast. By changing the WFS reference at every iteration of the algorithm, DrWHO changes the AO point of convergence to lead it towards a compensation of the static and slow aberrations. References are calculated using an iterative lucky-imaging approach, where each iteration updates the WFS reference, ultimately favoring high-quality focal plane images. We validate this concept through numerical simulations and on-sky testing on the SCExAO instrument at the 8.2-m Subaru telescope. Simulations show a rapid convergence towards the correction of 82% of the NCPAs. On-sky tests are performed over a 10-minute run in the visible (750 nm). We introduce a flux concentration (FC) metric to quantify the point spread function (PSF) quality and measure a 15.7% improvement. The DrWHO algorithm is a robust focal-plane wavefront sensing calibration method that has been successfully demonstrated on sky. It does not rely on a model nor requires wavefront sensor calibration or linearity. It is compatible with different wavefront control methods, and can be further optimized for speed and efficiency.

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arXiv2021

A correlation-locking adaptive filtering technique for minimum variance integral control in adaptive optics

We propose the Correlation-Locking Optimization SchEme (CLOSE), a real-time adaptive filtering technique for adaptive optics (AO) systems controlled with integrators. CLOSE leverages the temporal autocorrelation of modal signals in the controller telemetry and drives the gains of the integral command law in a closed servo-loop. This supervisory loop is configured using only a few scalar parameters, and automatically controls the modal gains to closely match transfer functions achieving minimum variance control. This optimization is proven to work throughout the range of noise and seeing conditions relevant to the AO system. This technique has been designed while preparing the high-order AO systems for extremely large telescopes, in particular for tackling the optical gain (OG) phenomenon -- a sensitivity reduction induced by on-sky residuals -- which is a prominent issue with pyramid wavefront sensors (PWFS). CLOSE follows upon the linear modal compensation approach to OG, previously demonstrated to substantially improve AO correction with high order PWFS systems. Operating on modal gains through multiplicative increments, CLOSE naturally compensates for the recurring issue of unaccounted sensitivity factors throughout the AO loop. We present end-to-end simulations of the MICADO instrument single-conjugate AO to demonstrate the performances and capabilities of CLOSE. We demonstrate that a single configuration shall provide an efficient and versatile optimization of the modal integrator while accounting for OG compensation, and while providing significant robustness to transient effects impacting the PWFS sensitivity.

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arXiv2020

MICADO PSF-Reconstruction work package description

The point spread function reconstruction (PSF-R) capability is a deliverable of the MICADO@ESO-ELT project. The PSF-R team works on the implementation of the instrument software devoted to reconstruct the point spread function (PSF), independently of the science data, using adaptive optics (AO) telemetry data, both for Single Conjugate (SCAO) and Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) mode of the MICADO camera and spectrograph. The PSF-R application will provide reconstructed PSFs through an archive querying system to restore the telemetry data synchronous to each science frame that MICADO will generate. Eventually, the PSF-R software will produce the output according to user specifications. The PSF-R service will support the state-of-the-art scientific analysis of the MICADO imaging and spectroscopic data.

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arXiv2018

The MICADO first light imager for the ELT: overview, operation, simulation

MICADO will enable the ELT to perform diffraction limited near-infrared observations at first light. The instrument's capabilities focus on imaging (including astrometric and high contrast) as well as single object spectroscopy. This contribution looks at how requirements from the observing modes have driven the instrument design and functionality. Using examples from specific science cases, and making use of the data simulation tool, an outline is presented of what we can expect the instrument to achieve.

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