A Laboratory Demonstration of High Dynamic Range Imaging using the Single-mode Fiber Pupil Remapping System (FIRST)

We present the laboratory demonstration of a very high dynamic range, diffraction limited imaging instrument FIRST (Fibered Imager foR Single Telescope). FIRST will enable us to achieve very high dynamic range imaging very near the central object (down to a fraction of λ/D) at visible to near-infrared wavelengths without using adaptive optics, which makes this instrument very complementary to classical coronagraph systems. With FIRST, a dynamic range improves with the number of photons and it is no longer limited by static aberrations which can be totally filtered out thanks to spatial filtering and pupil remapping with single-mode fibers. A raw dynamic range up to 10⁶ will be possible, but differential techniques which are under study would further enhance the dynamic range. We successfully demonstrated that the original image can be reconstructed with the expected high dynamic range through a pupil remapping system despite the existence of piston noises between fibers. We also describe the current status of the development of a prototype system. A first technical test will be performed at the Paris Observatory 1-meter telescope. The system will be set-up at the Lick Observatory 3-meter Shane telescope for operational tests in mid-2010.