Publications (29)
James Webb Space Telescope Optical Simulation Testbed V: Wide-field phase retrieval assessment
Iva Laginja, Greg Brady, Remi Soummer +14
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Simulation Testbed (JOST) is a hardware simulator for wavefront sensing and control designed to produce JWST-like images. A model of t…
Advanced optical designs of curved detectors-based two-mirrors unobscured telescopes
Eduard Muslimov, Emmanuel Hugot, Simona Lombardo +4
In the present paper we consider a family of unobscured telescope designs with curved detectors. They are based on classical two-mirror schemes -- Ritchey-Chretien, Gregorian and C…
Liquid Mirror Telescopes: A progress report
Ermanno F. Borra, Marc Ferrari, Luc Girard +3
We review the present status of liquid mirror telescopes. Interferometric tests of liquid mirrors (the largest one having a diameter of 2.5 meters ) show excellent optical qualitie…
Stress mirror polishing for future large lightweight mirrors: design using shape optimization
Sabri Lemared, Marc Ferrari, Christian Du Jeu +3
This study proposes a new way to manufacture large lightweight aspherics for space telescopes using Stress Mirror Polishing (SMP). This technique is well known to allow reaching hi…
High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes (HiCAT): 2. Design overview and first light results
Mamadou N'Diaye, Elodie Choquet, Sylvain Egron +13
We present a new high-contrast imaging testbed designed to provide complete solutions in wavefront sensing, control and starlight suppression with complex aperture telescopes. The…
Superpolished OAPs for WFIRST CGI
Melanie Roulet, Emmanuel Hugot, Carolyn Atkins +3
Exoplanet imaging requires super polished off-axis parabolas (OAP) with the utmost surface quality. In this paper we describe an innovative manufacturing process combining 3D print…
Design of optical systems with toroidal curved detectors
Eduard Muslimov, Emmanuel Hugot, Marc Ferrari +4
We consider using toroidal curved detectors to improve the performance of imaging optical systems. We demonstrate that some optical systems have an anamorphic field curvature. We c…
Space Project for Astrophysical and Cosmological Exploration (SPACE), an ESA stand-alone mission and a possible contribution to the Origins Space Telescope
Denis Burgarella, Andrew Bunker, Rychard Bouwens +30
We propose a new mission called Space Project for Astrophysical and Cosmological Exploration (SPACE) as part on the ESA long term planning Voyage 2050 programme. SPACE will study g…
Spectrographs with holographic gratings on freeform surfaces: design approach and application for the LUVOIR mission
Eduard Muslimov, Marc Ferrari, Emmanuel Hugot +5
In the present paper we demonstrate the approach to use a holographic grating on a freeform surface for advanced spectrographs design. On the example POLLUX spectropolarimeter medi…
POLLUX: a UV spectropolarimeter for the LUVOIR space telescope project
Eduard Muslimov, Jean-Claude Bouret, Coralie Neiner +9
The present paper describes the current baseline optical design of POLLUX, a high-resolution spectropolarimeter for the future LUVOIR mission. The instrument will operate in the ul…
Active optics for high-dynamic variable curvature mirrors
Emmanuel Hugot, Marc Ferrari, Gerard R. Lemaitre +5
Variable curvature mirrors of large amplitude are designed by using finite element analysis. The specific case studied reaches at least a 800 μm sag with an optical quality better…
Design and development of a freeform active mirror for an astronomy application
Zalpha Challita, Tibor Agócs, Emmanuel Hugot +10
The advent of extremely large telescopes will bring unprecedented light-collecting power and spatial resolution, but it will also lead to a significant increase in the size and com…
Combining freeform optics and curved detectors for wide field imaging: a polynomial approach over squared aperture
Eduard Muslimov, Emmanuel Hugot, Wilfried Jahn +5
In the recent years a significant progress was achieved in the field of design and fabrication of optical systems based on freeform optical surfaces. They provide a possibility to…
A fast, wide-field and distortion-free telescope with curved detectors for surveys at ultra-low surface brightness
Eduard Muslimov, David Valls-Gabaud, Gérard Lemaître +6
We present the design of an all-reflective, bi-folded Schmidt telescope aimed at surveys of extended astronomical objects with extremely-low surface brightness. The design leads to…
Advancing European High-Contrast Imaging R&D Towards the Habitable Worlds Observatory
Iva Laginja, Ãscar Carrión-González, Romain Laugier +31
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will enable a transformative leap in the direct imaging and characterization of Earth-like exoplanets. For this, NASA is focusing on early in…
Curved detectors for wide field imaging systems: impact on tolerance analysis
Eduard Muslimov, Emmanuel Hugot, Simona Lombardo +7
In the present paper we consider quantitative estimation of the tolerances widening in optical systems with curved detectors. The gain in image quality allows to loosen the margins…
Active deployable primary mirrors on CubeSat
Noah Schwartz, Maria Milanova, William Brzozowski +9
The volume available on small satellites restricts the size of optical apertures to a few centimetres, limiting the Ground-Sampling Distance (GSD) in the visible to typically 3 m a…
Design and modelling of spectrographs with holographic gratings on freeform surfaces
Eduard R. Muslimov, Marc Ferrari, Emmanuel Hugot +6
In the present paper we demonstrate the approach of using a holographic grating on a freeform surface for advanced spectrographs design. We discuss the surface and groove pattern d…
Local ensemble transform Kalman filter, a fast non-stationary control law for adaptive optics on ELTs: theoretical aspects and first simulation results
Morgan Gray, Cyril Petit, Sergey Rodionov +4
We propose a new algorithm for an adaptive optics system control law, based on the Linear Quadratic Gaussian approach and a Kalman Filter adaptation with localizations. It allows t…
Design of a custom wideband camera for MISTRAL imager-spectrograph
Eduard Muslimov, Jerome Schmitt, Christophe Adami +2
MISTRAL is a visible and near infrared imager and spectrograph working with the telescope at L'Observatoire de Haute-Provence. The goal of the present project is to design…
High-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes (HiCAT): 8. Dark zone demonstration with simultaneous closed-loop low-order wavefront sensing and control
Rémi Soummer, Emiel H. Por, Raphaël Pourcelot +27
We present recent laboratory results demonstrating high-contrast coronagraphy for the future space-based large IR/Optical/Ultraviolet telescope recommended by the Decadal Survey. T…
Curved detectors developments and characterization: application to astronomical instruments
Simona Lombardo, Thibault Behaghel, Bertrand Chambion +8
Many astronomical optical systems have the disadvantage of generating curved focal planes requiring flattening optical elements to project the corrected image on flat detectors. Th…
Continuing to Advance European High Contrast Imaging Research and Development towards HWO and LIFE
Gael Chauvin, Oscar Carrion Gonzalez, Iva Laginja +20
The European Research and Development for Space based High Contrast Imaging II Workshop, held at MPIA in May 2025, advanced Europe strategic coordination in support of future exopl…
Mirror actively deformed and regulated for applications in space: design and performance
Marie Laslandes, Emmanuel Hugot, Marc Ferrari +5
The need for both high quality images and lightweight structures is one of the main drivers in space telescope design. An efficient wavefront control system will become mandatory i…
Flexible focal plane arrays for UVOIR wide field instrumentation
Emmanuel Hugot, Wilfried Jahn, Bertrand Chambion +7
LAM and CEA-LETI are developing the technology of deformable detectors, for UV, VIS or NIR applications. Such breakthrough devices will be a revolution for future wide field imager…
High-contrast imager for complex aperture telescopes (HiCAT): 11. System-level demonstration of the Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph with a segmented aperture in air
Rémi Soummer, Raphaël Pourcelot, Emiel H. Por +16
We present the final results of the Apodized Pupil Lyot Coronagraph (APLC) on the High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes (HiCAT) testbed, under NASA's Strategic Astro…
Key Technologies for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope Coronagraph Instrument
Vanessa P. Bailey, Lee Armus, Bala Balasubramanian +84
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) is a high-contrast imager and integral field spectrograph that will enable the study of exoplanets an…
3D printing for astronomical mirrors
Melanie Roulet, Carolyn Atkins, Emmanuel Hugot +3
3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, offers a new vision for optical fabrication in term of achievable optical quality and reduction of weight and cost. In this paper w…
Active optics: deformable mirrors with a minimum number of actuators
Marie Laslandes, Emmanuel Hugot, Marc Ferrari
We present two concepts of deformable mirror to compensate for first order optical aberrations. Deformation systems are designed using both elasticity theory and Finite Element Ana…