WFIRST: Integrated Coronagraph Design and Scientific Yield Modeling
Abstract
The WFIRST Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) will be the first instrument to directly image cool gas giant exoplanets. To achieve its scientific goals of exoplanet imaging, exoplanet characterization, and circumstellar debris disk imaging, the CGI will carry both the shaped pupil coronagraph and hybrid Lyot coronagraph. Ongoing design work is focused on increasing the expected scientific yield by improving coronagraph performance (e.g., throughput or starlight suppression), robustness to observatory dynamics, and robustness to polarization aberrations. We present the design methodology, updated designs, and the evaluation process for choosing the designs with the highest scientific returns.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #231
- Pub Date:
- January 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AAS...23124644E