Publication Date:
2018-06-08
Description:
The direct detection of Earthlike planets in the visible is a very challenging goal. This paper describes a new concept for visible direct detection of Earths using a nulling interferometer instrument behind a 4m telescope in space. The basic concept is described along with the key advantages of the nulling interferometer over more traditional approaches, an apodized aperture telescope or coronagraph. In the baseline design, a 4 beam nuller produces a very deep theta^4 null. With perfect optics, the stellar leakage is less than le-11 of the starlight at the location of the planet. With diffraction limited (lambda/20) telescope optics suppression of the starlight to -1e-10 would be possible.
Keywords:
Instrumentation and Photography
Type:
Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation - High-Contrast Imaging for Exo-Planet Detection, Conference 4860; Waikoloa, HI; United States
Format:
text
Permalink