AAS 201st Meeting, January, 2003
Session 21. Planetary Systems: Instrumentation and Surveys
Poster, Monday, January 6, 2003, 9:20am-6:30pm, Exhibit Hall AB

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[21.04] Development and Testing of an Optimal Shaped Pupil Coronagraph for Extrasolar Planet Finding

D.N. Spergel (Princeton University), J.N. Kasdin (Dept of Mech. & Aero. Eng., Princeton), R.J. Vanderbei (Dept of Oper. Research & Fin. Eng., Princeton), M.G. Littman (Dept of Mech & Aero. Eng., Princeton), M. Carr (Dept. of Astrophys. Sci., Princeton), D. Mumm (Princeton Materials Inst., Princeton), M. Pueyo (Dept. of Mech & Aero. Eng., Princeton)

In this poster we present our recent results in designing and testing optimal shaped pupil coronagraphs. we show a variety of optimal pupils shapes and describe their performance in inner working distance, discovery space, and integration time. We discuss the tradeoffs in utilizing different approaches. We also present our early results in manufacturing and testing a shaped pupil mask. We produced a 1 inch mask using electroforming processes for less than $10,000 that meets the requirements of a TPF quality coronagraph. We will present the results of metrology on the mask confirming it meets specifications and will show early optical performance results in the laboratory.

This research was supported by the NASA TPF program.


If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/techreps_pdf.html. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.

The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dns@astro.princeton.edu

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