Wavefront Sensing and Control R&D on the SCExAO Testbed
Abstract
Wavefront control and residual starlight calibration are the most significant challenges to high contrast imaging. On ground-based telescopes, performance levels well beyond what current on-sky AO systems deliver will be required for direct imaging of potentially habitable planets with upcoming Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes. Future space telescopes will require exquisite wavefront stability and knowledge for deep contrast imaging of Earth-like planets in visible light. The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system is a powerful testbed for validating, off-sky and on-sky, advanced wavefront sensing and control (WFS/C) techniques. Hardware and software configurations allow for new algorithms to be deployed and tested. Recent developments to improve the reliability and sensitivity of WFS/C include predictive control, Linear Dark Field Control (LDFC) and sensor fusion. We also describe early results from PSF calibration techniques.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23528006G