The IRCAL Polarimeter: Design, Calibration, and Data Reduction for an Adaptive Optics Imaging Polarimeter

Abstract

We have upgraded IRCAL, the near-infrared science camera of the Lick Observatory adaptive optics system, to add a dual-channel imaging polarimetry mode. This mode uses an optically contacted YLF (LiYF_4) Wollaston prism to provide simultaneous images in perpendicular linear polarizations, providing high resolution, high dynamic range polarimetry in the near infrared. We describe the design and construction of the polarimeter, discuss in detail the data reduction algorithms adopted, and evaluate the instrument's on-the-sky performance. The IRCAL polarimeter is capable of reducing the stellar PSF halo by about two orders of magnitude, thereby increasing contrast for studies of faint circumstellar dust-scattered light. We discuss the various factors that limit the achieved contrast, and present lessons applicable to future high contrast imaging polarimeters.

15 pages; accepted to PASP

References in corpus (28)

• Drizzle: A Method for the Linear Reconstruction of Undersampled Images
• 9286 Stars: An Agglomeration of Stellar Polarization Catalogs
• JHK Standard Stars for Large Telescopes: the UKIRT Fundamental and Extended Lists
• HST color-magnitude diagrams of 74 galactic globular clusters in the HST F439W and F555W bands
• The Circumstellar Disk of HD 141569 Imaged with NICMOS
• HST/ACS Coronagraphic Imaging of the Circumstellar Disk around HD1415659A
• The Signature of Primordial Grain Growth in the Polarized Light of the AU Mic Debris Disk
• Imaging Polarimetric Observations of a New Circumstellar Disk System
• Error Analysis for Dual-Beam Optical Linear Polarimetry
• Temporal Evolution of Coronagraphic Dynamic Range, and Constraints on Companions to Vega
• Combining Undersampled Dithered Images
• TRIDENT: an Infrared Differential Imaging Camera Optimized for the Detection of Methanated Substellar Companions
• Astrometry and Photometry with Coronagraphs
• Near-infrared imaging polarimetry of the GG Tau circumbinary ring
• Accurate Astrometry and Photometry of Saturated and Coronagraphic Point Spread Functions
• Speckle Statistics in Adaptively Corrected Images
• NACO Polarimetric Differential Imaging of TW Hya: A Sharp Look at the Closest T Tauri Disk
• Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics Imaging Polarimetry of Herbig Ae/Be Stars
• Discovery of an Optically Thick, Edge-on Disk around the Herbig Ae star PDS 144N
• High resolution imaging polarimetry of HL Tau and magnetic field structure
• Polarization Effects in Reflecting Coronagraphs for White Light Applications in Astronomy
• Ground-based near-infrared imaging of the HD141569 circumstellar disk
• Differential Imaging with a Multicolor Detector Assembly: A New ExoPlanet Finder Concept
• HST/NICMOS Imaging Polarimetry of Proto-Planetary Nebulae II: Macro-morphology of the Dust Shell Structure via Polarized Light
• The new HiVIS spectropolarimeter and spectropolarimetric calibration of the AEOS telescope
• Constraining the Adaptive Optics Point-Spread Function in Crowded Fields: Measuring Photometric Aperture Corrections
• Commissioning of the Dual-Beam Imaging Polarimeter for the UH 88-inch telescope
• Acquisition and analysis of adaptive optics imaging polarimetry data

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Polarimetry with the Gemini Planet Imager: Methods, Performance at First Light, and the Circumstellar Ring around HR 4796A
• Non-negative Matrix Factorization: Robust Extraction of Extended Structures
• Speckle Suppression Through Dual Imaging Polarimetry, and a Ground-Based Image of the HR 4796A Circumstellar Disk
• The Case of AB Aurigae's Disk in Polarized Light: Is There Truly a Gap?
• Near-Infrared Imaging Polarimetry of HD142527
• Stellar Multiplicity and Debris Disks: An Unbiased Sample
• Constraining the Circumbinary Envelope of Z CMa via imaging polarimetry
• Imaging the circumstellar environment of the young T Tauri star SU Aurigae
• Evidence for an Edge-On Disk around the Young Star MWC 778 from Infrared Imaging and Polarimetry