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F. Martinache, O. Guyon, E. Pluzhnik (Subaru Telescope (NAOJ)), S. Ridgway (National Optical Astronomical Observatories), R. Galicher (Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris)
PIAA is one of the powerful applications of pupil remapping. A set of two aspheric mirrors changes the distribution of light and provides an apodized pupil, suitable for coronagraphy, without light loss on an absorbing mask. Deployed on to a space telescope with coronagraphic quality optics, it may allow planet detection from a 1.2 \lambda/d inner working distance and a full working field.
We describe the performance of a PIAA version of NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) in terms of Signal to Noise Ratio and compare it to Classical Pupil Apodization (CPA) performance. We also discuss the necessity of using different occulting masks and give an estimate of the total exposure time for the planet detection phase of the TPF mission.
This study is based on realistic Monte Carlo simulations of terrestrial planets orbiting around F, G, K stars within 30 pc around the solar system and includes planet phase and angular separation probabilities.
This work was carried out under JPL contract numbers 1254445 and 1257767 for Development of Technologies for the Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission, with the support and hospitality of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: frantz@naoj.org
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.