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Frantz Martinache

Publications and source records attributed to Frantz Martinache.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

A Chromaticity Analysis and PSF Subtraction Techniques for SCExAO/CHARIS data

We present an analysis of instrument performance using new observations taken with the Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (CHARIS) instrument and the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system. In a correlation analysis of our datasets (which use the broadband mode covering J through K band in a single spectrum), we find that chromaticity in the SCExAO/CHARIS system is generally worse than temporal stability. We also develop a point spread function (PSF) subtraction pipeline optimized for the CHARIS broadband mode, including a forward modelling-based exoplanet algorithmic throughput correction scheme. We then present contrast curves using this newly developed pipeline. An analogous subtraction of the same datasets using only the H band slices yields the same final contrasts as the full JHK sequences; this result is consistent with our chromaticity analysis, illustrating that PSF subtraction using spectral differential imaging (SDI) in this broadband mode is generally not more effective than SDI in the individual J, H, or K bands. In the future, the data processing framework and analysis developed in this paper will be important to consider for additional SCExAO/CHARIS broadband observations and other ExAO instruments which plan to implement a similar integral field spectrograph broadband mode.

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No Clear, Direct Evidence for Multiple Protoplanets Orbiting LkCa 15: LkCa 15 bcd are Likely Inner Disk Signals

Two studies utilizing sparse aperture masking (SAM) interferometry and $H_{\rm α}$ differential imaging have reported multiple jovian companions around the young solar-mass star, LkCa 15 (LkCa 15 bcd): the first claimed direct detection of infant, newly-formed planets ("protoplanets"). We present new near-infrared direct imaging/spectroscopy from the SCExAO system coupled with the CHARIS integral field spectrograph and multi-epoch thermal infrared imaging from Keck/NIRC2 of LkCa 15 at high Strehl ratios. These data provide the first direct imaging look at the same wavelengths and in the same locations where previous studies identified the LkCa 15 protoplanets and thus offer the first decisive test of their existence. The data do not reveal these planets. Instead, we resolve extended emission tracing a dust disk with a brightness and location comparable to that claimed for LkCa 15 bcd. Forward-models attributing this signal to orbiting planets are inconsistent with the combined SCExAO/CHARIS and Keck/NIRC2 data. An inner disk provides a more compelling explanation for the SAM detections and perhaps also the claimed $H_α$ detection of LkCa 15 b. We conclude that there is currently no clear, direct evidence for multiple protoplanets orbiting LkCa 15, although the system likely contains at least one unseen jovian companion. To identify jovian companions around LkCa 15 from future observations, the inner disk should be detected and its effect modeled, removed, and shown to be distinguishable from planets. Protoplanet candidates identified from similar systems should likewise be clearly distinguished from disk emission through modeling.

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Diffraction-dominated observational astronomy

This paper is based on the opening lecture given at the 2017 edition of the Evry Schatzman school on high-angular resolution imaging of stars and their direct environment. Two relevant observing techniques: long baseline interferometry and adaptive optics fed high-contrast imaging produce data whose overall aspect is dominated by the phenomenon of diffraction. The proper interpretation of such data requires an understanding of the coherence properties of astrophysical sources, that is, the ability of light to produce interferences. This theory is used to describe high-contrast imaging in more details. The paper introduces the rationale for ideas such as apodization and coronagraphy and describes how they interact with adaptive optics. The incredible precision brought by the latest generation adaptive optics systems makes observations particularly sensitive to subtle instrumental biases that must be accounted for, up until now using post-processing techniques. The ability to directly measure the coherence of the light in the focal plane of high-contrast imaging instruments using focal-plane based wavefront control techniques will be the next step to further enhance our ability to directly detect extrasolar planets.

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Kernel phase imaging with VLT/NACO: high-contrast detection of new candidate low-mass stellar companions at the diffraction limit

Directly imaging exoplanets is challenging because quasi-static phase aberrations in the pupil plane (speckles) can mimic the signal of a companion at small angular separations. Kernel phase, which is a generalization of closure phase (known from sparse aperture masking), is independent of pupil plane phase noise to second order and allows for a robust calibration of full pupil, extreme adaptive optics observations. We applied kernel phase combined with a principal component based calibration process to a suitable but not optimal, high cadence, pupil stabilized L' band ($3.8~μ\text{m}$) data set from the ESO archive. We detect eight low-mass companions, five of which were previously unknown, and two have angular separations of $\sim0.8$-$1.2~λ/D$ (i.e. $\sim80$-$110~\text{mas}$), demonstrating that kernel phase achieves a resolution below the classical diffraction limit of a telescope. While we reach a $5σ$ contrast limit of $\sim1/100$ at such angular separations, we demonstrate that an optimized observing strategy with more diversity of PSF references (e.g. star-hopping sequences) would have led to a better calibration and even better performance. As such, kernel phase is a promising technique for achieving the best possible resolution with future space-based telescopes (e.g. JWST), which are limited by the mirror size rather than atmospheric turbulence, and with a dedicated calibration process also for extreme adaptive optics facilities from the ground.

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Multi-epoch Direct Imaging and Time-Variable Scattered Light Morphology of the HD 163296 Protoplanetary Disk

We present H-band polarized scattered light imagery and JHK high-contrast spectroscopy of the protoplanetary disk around HD 163296 observed with the HiCIAO and SCExAO/CHARIS instruments at Subaru Observatory. The polarimetric imagery resolve a broken ring structure surrounding HD 163296 that peaks at a distance along the major axis of 0.65 (66 AU) and extends out to 0.98 (100 AU) along the major axis. Our 2011 H-band data exhibit clear axisymmetry, with the NW- and SE- side of the disk exhibiting similar intensities. Our data are clearly different than 2016 epoch H-band observations from VLT/SPHERE that found a strong 2.7x asymmetry between the NW- and SE-side of the disk. Collectively, these results indicate the presence of time variable, non-azimuthally symmetric illumination of the outer disk. Based on our 3D-MCRT modeling of contemporaneous IR spectroscopic and H-band polarized intensity imagery of the system, we suggest that while the system could plausibly host an inclined inner disk component, such a component is unlikely to be responsible for producing the observed time-dependent azimuthal variations in the outer scattered light disk of the system. While our SCExAO/CHARIS data are sensitive enough to recover the planet candidate identified from NIRC2 in the thermal IR, we fail to detect an object with a corresponding JHK brightness estimated from the atmospheric models of Baraffe et al. 2003. This suggests that the candidate is either fainter in JHK bands than model predictions, possibly due to extinction from the disk or atmospheric dust/clouds, or that it is an artifact of the dataset/data processing. Our SCExAO/CHARIS data lower the IR mass limits for planets inferred at larger stellocentric separations; however, these ALMA-predicted protoplanet candidates are currently still consistent with direct imaging constraints.

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Substellar Multiplicity Throughout the Ages

Substellar multiplicity is a key outcome of the formation process. The biggest challenge for the next decade will be to distinguish between the formation history, environmental conditions, and dynamical evolution leading to the least massive brown dwarfs and the most massive planets at the tail ends of their mass functions. In this white paper, we advocate for a comprehensive characterization of both the statistical distributions of the population of ultracool dwarf multiple systems and the fundamental properties of their individual components as a function of age. A space-based precision astrometry mission in near-infrared wavelengths would provide the necessary measurements to identify and characterize age-calibrated populations of multiple systems.

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Visible and Near Infrared Laboratory Demonstration of a Simplified Pyramid Wavefront Sensor

Wavefront sensing and control are important for enabling one of the key advantages of using large apertures, namely higher angular resolutions. Pyramid wavefront sensors are becoming commonplace in new instrument designs owing to their superior sensitivity. However, one remaining roadblock to their widespread use is the fabrication of the pyramidal optic. This complex optic is challenging to fabricate due to the pyramid tip, where four planes need to intersect in a single point. Thus far, only a handful of these have been produced due to the low yields and long lead times. To address this, we present an alternative implementation of the pyramid wavefront sensor that relies on two roof prisms instead. Such prisms are easy and inexpensive to source. We demonstrate the successful operation of the roof prism pyramid wavefront sensor on a 8-m class telescope, at visible and near infrared wavelengths ---for the first time using a SAPHIRA HgCdTe detector without modulation for a laboratory demonstration---, and elucidate how this sensor can be used more widely on wavefront control test benches and instruments.

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Isochronal age-mass discrepancy of young stars: SCExAO/CHARIS integral field spectroscopy of the HIP 79124 triple system

We present SCExAO/CHARIS 1.1--2.4 micron integral field direct spectroscopy of the young HIP 79124 triple system. HIP 79124 is a member of the Scorpius-Centaurus association, consisting of an A0V primary with two low-mass companions at a projected separation of <1 arcsecond. Thanks to the high quality wavefront corrections provided by SCExAO, both companions are decisively detected without the employment of any PSF-subtraction algorithm to eliminate quasi-static noise. The spectrum of the outer C object is very well matched by Upper Scorpius M4 pm 0.5 standard spectra, with a Teff = 2945 pm 100 and a mass of 350 MJup. HIP 79124 B is detected at a separation of only 180 mas in a highly-correlated noise regime, and it falls in the spectral range M6 pm 0.5 with Teff = 2840 pm 190 and 100 MJup. Previous studies of stellar populations in Sco-Cen have highlighted a discrepancy in isochronal ages between the lower-mass and higher-mass populations. This could be explained either by an age spread in the region, or by conventional isochronal models failing to reproduce the evolution of low-mass stars. The HIP 79124 system should be coeval, and therefore it provides an ideal laboratory to test these scenarios. We place the three components in a color-magnitude diagram and find that the models predict a younger age for the two low-mass companions (3 Myr) than for the primary star (6 Myr). These results imply that the omission of magnetic effects in conventional isochronal models inhibit them from reproducing early low-mass stellar evolution, which is further supported by the fact that new models that include such effects provide more consistent ages in the HIP 79124 system.

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SCExAO/CHARIS Near-Infrared Direct Imaging, Spectroscopy, and Forward-Modeling of kappa And b: A Likely Young, Low-Gravity Superjovian Companion

We present SCExAO/CHARIS high-contrast imaging/$JHK$ integral field spectroscopy of $κ$ And b, a directly-imaged low-mass companion orbiting a nearby B9V star. We detect $κ$ And b at a high signal-to-noise and extract high precision spectrophotometry using a new forward-modeling algorithm for (A-)LOCI complementary to KLIP-FM developed by Pueyo (2016). $κ$ And b's spectrum best resembles that of a low-gravity L0--L1 dwarf (L0--L1$γ$). Its spectrum and luminosity are very well matched by 2MASSJ0141-4633 and several other 12.5--15 $M_{\rm J}$ free floating members of the 40 $Myr$-old Tuc-Hor Association, consistent with a system age derived from recent interferometric results for the primary, a companion mass at/near the deuterium-burning limit (13$^{+12}_{-2}$ M$_{\rm J}$), and a companion-to-primary mass ratio characteristic of other directly-imaged planets ($q$ $\sim$ 0.005$^{+0.005}_{-0.001}$). We did not unambiguously identify additional, more closely-orbiting companions brighter and more massive than $κ$ And b down to $ρ$ $\sim$ 0.3" (15 au). SCExAO/CHARIS and complementary Keck/NIRC2 astrometric points reveal clockwise orbital motion. Modeling points towards a likely eccentric orbit: a subset of acceptable orbits include those that are aligned with the star's rotation axis. However, $κ$ And b's semimajor axis is plausibly larger than 75 au and in a region where disk instability could form massive companions. Deeper $κ$ And high-contrast imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy from extreme AO systems like SCExAO/CHARIS and higher resolution spectroscopy from Keck/OSIRIS or, later, IRIS on the Thirty Meter Telescope could help clarify $κ$ And b's chemistry and whether its spectrum provides an insight into its formation environment.

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SCExAO/CHARIS Near-IR High-Contrast Imaging and Integral Field Spectroscopy of the HIP 79977 Debris Disk

We present new, near-infrared (1.1--2.4 $μm$) high-contrast imaging of the bright debris disk surrounding HIP 79977 with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics system (SCExAO) coupled with the CHARIS integral field spectrograph. SCExAO/CHARIS resolves the disk down to smaller angular separations of (0.11"; $r \sim 14$ au) and at a higher significance than previously achieved at the same wavelengths. The disk exhibits a marginally significant east-west brightness asymmetry in $H$ band that requires confirmation. Geometrical modeling suggests a nearly edge-on disk viewed at a position angle of $\sim$ 114.6$^{o}$ east of north. The disk is best-fit by scattered-light models assuming strongly forward-scattering grains ($g$ $\sim$ 0.5--0.65) confined to a torus with a peak density at $r_{0}$ $\sim$ 53--75 au. We find that a shallow outer density power law of $α_{out}=$-1-- -3 and flare index of $β= 1$ are preferred. Other disk parameters (e.g.~inner density power law and vertical scale height) are more poorly constrained. The disk has a slightly blue intrinsic color and its profile is broadly consistent with predictions from birth ring models applied to other debris disks. While HIP 79977's disk appears to be more strongly forward-scattering than most resolved disks surrounding 5--30 Myr-old stars, this difference may be due to observational biases favoring forward-scattering models for inclined disks vs. lower inclination, ostensibly neutral-scattering disks like HR 4796A's. Deeper, higher signal-to-noise SCExAO/CHARIS data can better constrain the disk's dust composition.

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Characterizing Vibrations at the Subaru Telescope for the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics instrument

Vibrations are a key source of image degradation in ground-based instrumentation, especially for high-contrast imaging instruments. Vibrations reduce the quality of the correction provided by the adaptive optics system, blurring the science image and reducing the sensitivity of most science modules. We studied vibrations using the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument at the Subaru Telescope as it is the most vibration sensitive system installed on the telescope. We observed vibrations for all targets, usually at low frequency, below 10 Hz. Using accelerometers on the telescope, we confirmed that these vibrations were introduced by the telescope itself, and not the instrument. It was determined that they were related to the pitch of the encoders of the telescope drive system, both in altitude and azimuth, with frequencies evolving proportionally to the rotational speed of the telescope. Another strong vibration was found in the altitude axis of the telescope, around the time of transit of the target, when the altitude rotation speed is below 0.12 arcsec/s. These vibrations are amplified by the 10-Hz control loop of the telescope, especially in a region between 4 and 6 Hz. In this work, we demonstrate an accurate characterization of the frequencies of the telescope vibrations using only the coordinates -right ascension and declination- of the target, and provide a means by which we can predict them for any telescope pointing. This will be a powerful tool that can be used by more advanced wavefront control algorithms, especially predictive control, that uses informations about the disturbance to calculate the best correction.

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SCExAO, an instrument with a dual purpose: perform cutting-edge science and develop new technologies

The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument is an extremely modular high-contrast instrument installed on the Subaru telescope in Hawaii. SCExAO has a dual purpose. Its position in the northern hemisphere on a 8-meter telescope makes it a prime instrument for the detection and characterization of exoplanets and stellar environments over a large portion of the sky. In addition, SCExAO's unique design makes it the ideal instrument to test innovative technologies and algorithms quickly in a laboratory setup and subsequently deploy them on-sky. SCExAO benefits from a first stage of wavefront correction with the facility adaptive optics AO188, and splits the 600-2400 nm spectrum towards a variety of modules, in visible and near infrared, optimized for a large range of science cases. The integral field spectrograph CHARIS, with its J, H or K-band high-resolution mode or its broadband low-resolution mode, makes SCExAO a prime instrument for exoplanet detection and characterization. Here we report on the recent developments and scientific results of the SCExAO instrument. Recent upgrades were performed on a number of modules, like the visible polarimetric module VAMPIRES, the high-performance infrared coronagraphs, various wavefront control algorithms, as well as the real-time controller of AO188. The newest addition is the 20k-pixel Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKIDS) Exoplanet Camera (MEC) that will allow for previously unexplored science and technology developments. MEC, coupled with novel photon-counting speckle control, brings SCExAO closer to the final design of future high-contrast instruments optimized for Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes (GSMTs).

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Kernel-nulling for a robust direct interferometric detection of extrasolar planets

Combining the resolving power of long-baseline interferometry with the high-dynamic range capability of nulling still remains the only technique that can directly sense the presence of structures in the innermost regions of extrasolar planetary systems. Ultimately, the performance of any nuller architecture is constrained by the partial resolution of the on-axis star whose light it attempts to cancel out. However from the ground, the effective performance of nulling is dominated by residual time-varying instrumental phase and background errors that keep the instrument off the null. Our work investigates robustness against instrumental phase. We introduce a modified nuller architecture that enables the extraction of information that is robust against piston excursions. Our method generalizes the concept of kernel, now applied to the outputs of the modified nuller so as to make them robust to second order pupil phase error. We present the general method to determine these kernel-outputs and highlight the benefits of this novel approach. We present the properties of VIKiNG: the VLTI Infrared Kernel NullinG, an instrument concept within the Hi-5 framework for the 4-UT VLTI infrastructure that takes advantage of the proposed architecture, to produce three self-calibrating nulled outputs. Stabilized by a fringe-tracker that would bring piston-excursions down to 50 nm, this instrument would be able to directly detect more than a dozen extrasolar planets so-far detected by radial velocity only, as well as many hot transiting planets and a significant number of very young exoplanets.

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Laboratory and On-Sky Validation of the Shaped Pupil Coronagraph's Sensitivity to Low-Order Aberrations With Active Wavefront Control

We present early laboratory simulations and extensive on-sky tests validating of the performance of a shaped pupil coronagraph (SPC) behind an extreme-AO corrected beam of the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system. In tests with the SCExAO internal source/wavefront error simulator, the normalized intensity profile for the SPC degrades more slowly than for the Lyot coronagraph as low-order aberrations reduce the Strehl ratio from extremely high values (S.R. $\sim$ 0.93--0.99) to those characteristic of current ground-based extreme AO systems (S.R. $\sim$ 0.74--0.93) and then slightly lower values down to S.R. $\sim$ 0.57. On-sky SCExAO data taken with the SPC and other coronagraphs for brown dwarf/planet-hosting stars HD 1160 and HR 8799 provide further evidence for the SPC's robustness to low-order aberrations. From H-band Strehl ratios of 80% to 70%, the Lyot coronagraph's performance vs. that of the SPC may degrade even faster on sky than is seen in our internal source simulations. The 5-$σ$ contrast also degrades faster (by a factor of two) for the Lyot than the SPC. The SPC we use was designed as a technology demonstrator only, with a contrast floor, throughput, and outer working angle poorly matched for SCExAO's current AO performance and poorly tuned for imaging the HR 8799 planets. Nevertheless, we detect HR 8799 cde with SCExAO/CHARIS using the SPC in broadband mode, where the S/N for planet e is within 30% of that obtained using the vortex coronagraph. The shaped-pupil coronagraph is a promising design demonstrated to be robust in the presence of low-order aberrations and may be well-suited for future ground and space-based direct imaging observations, especially those focused on follow-up exoplanet characterization and technology demonstration of deep contrast within well-defined regions of the image plane.

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Calibration of the island effect: Experimental validation of closed-loop focal plane wavefront control on Subaru/SCExAO

Island effect (IE) aberrations are induced by differential pistons, tips, and tilts between neighboring pupil segments on ground-based telescopes, which severely limit the observations of circumstellar environments on the recently deployed exoplanet imagers (e.g., VLT/SPHERE, Gemini/GPI, Subaru/SCExAO) during the best observing conditions. Caused by air temperature gradients at the level of the telescope spiders, these aberrations were recently diagnosed with success on VLT/SPHERE, but so far no complete calibration has been performed to overcome this issue. We propose closed-loop focal plane wavefront control based on the asymmetric Fourier pupil wavefront sensor (APF-WFS) to calibrate these aberrations and improve the image quality of exoplanet high-contrast instruments in the presence of the IE. Assuming the archetypal four-quadrant aperture geometry in 8m class telescopes, we describe these aberrations as a sum of the independent modes of piston, tip, and tilt that are distributed in each quadrant of the telescope pupil. We calibrate these modes with the APF-WFS before introducing our wavefront control for closed-loop operation. We perform numerical simulations and then experimental tests on a real system using Subaru/SCExAO to validate our control loop in the laboratory and on-sky. Closed-loop operation with the APF-WFS enables the compensation for the IE in simulations and in the laboratory for the small aberration regime. Based on a calibration in the near infrared, we observe an improvement of the image quality in the visible range on the SCExAO/VAMPIRES module with a relative increase in the image Strehl ratio of 37%. Our first IE calibration paves the way for maximizing the science operations of the current exoplanet imagers. Such an approach and its results prove also very promising in light of the Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) and the presence of similar artifacts.

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An H-band Vector Vortex Coronagraph for the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme-Adaptive Optics System

The vector vortex is a coronagraphic imaging mode of the recently commissioned Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme-Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) platform on the 8-m Subaru Telescope. This multi-purpose high-contrast visible and near-infrared (R- to K-band) instrument is not only intended to serve as a VLT-class "planet-imager" instrument in the Northern hemisphere, but also to operate as a technology demonstration testbed ahead of the ELTs-era, with a particular emphasis on small inner-working angle (IWA) coronagraphic capabilities. The given priority to small-IWA imaging led to the early design choice to incorporate focal-plane phase-mask coronagraphs. In this context, a test H-band vector vortex liquid crystal polymer waveplate was provided to SCExAO, to allow a one-to-one comparison of different small-IWA techniques on the same telescope instrument, before considering further steps. Here we present a detailed overview of the vector vortex coronagraph, from its installation and performances on the SCExAO optical bench, to the on-sky results in the extreme AO regime, as of late 2016/early 2017. To this purpose, we also provide a few recent on-sky imaging examples, notably high-contrast ADI detection of the planetary-mass companion κAndromedae b, with a signal-to-noise ratio above 100 reached in less than 10 mn exposure time.

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On-sky closed loop correction of atmospheric dispersion for high-contrast coronagraphy and astrometry

Adaptive optic (AO) systems delivering high levels of wavefront correction are now common at observatories. One of the main limitations to image quality after wavefront correction comes from atmospheric refraction. An Atmospheric dispersion compensator (ADC) is employed to correct for atmospheric refraction. The correction is applied based on a look-up table consisting of dispersion values as a function of telescope elevation angle. The look-up table based correction of atmospheric dispersion results in imperfect compensation leading to the presence of residual dispersion in the point-spread function (PSF) and is insufficient when sub-milliarcsecond precision is required. The presence of residual dispersion can limit the achievable contrast while employing high-performance coronagraphs or can compromise high-precision astrometric measurements. In this paper, we present the first on-sky closed-loop correction of atmospheric dispersion by directly using science path images. The concept behind the measurement of dispersion utilizes the chromatic scaling of focal plane speckles. An adaptive speckle grid generated with a deformable mirror (DM) that has a sufficiently large number of actuators is used to accurately measure the residual dispersion and subsequently correct it by driving the ADC. We have demonstrated with the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme AO (SCExAO) system on-sky closed-loop correction of residual dispersion to < 1 mas across H-band. This work will aid in the direct detection of habitable exoplanets with upcoming extremely large telescopes (ELTs) and also provide a diagnostic tool to test the performance of instruments which require sub-milliarcsecond correction.

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Enhancing stellar spectroscopy with extreme adaptive optics and photonics

Extreme adaptive optics systems are now in operation across the globe. These systems, capable of high order wavefront correction, deliver Strehl ratios of 90% in the near-infrared. Originally intended for the direct imaging of exoplanets, these systems are often equipped with advanced coronagraphs that suppress the on-axis-star, interferometers to calibrate wavefront errors, and low order wavefront sensors to stabilize any tip/tilt residuals to a degree never seen before. Such systems are well positioned to facilitate the detailed spectroscopic characterization of faint substellar companions at small angular separations from the host star. Additionally, the increased light concentration of the point-spread function and the unprecedented stability create opportunities in other fields of astronomy as well, including spectroscopy. With such Strehl ratios, efficient injection into single-mode fibers or photonic lanterns becomes possible. With diffraction-limited components feeding the instrument, calibrating a spectrograph's line profile becomes considerably easier, as modal noise or imperfect scrambling of the fiber output are no longer an issue. It also opens up the possibility of exploiting photonic technologies for their advanced functionalities, inherent replicability, and small, lightweight footprint to design and build future instrumentation. In this work, we outline how extreme adaptive optics systems will enable advanced photonic and diffraction-limited technologies to be exploited in spectrograph design and the impact it will have on spectroscopy. We illustrate that the precision of an instrument based on these technologies, would be limited by the spectral content and stellar noise on cool stars and capable of achieving a radial velocity precision of several m/s; the level required for detecting an exo-Earth in the HZ of a nearby M-dwarf.

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