The VAMPIRES instrument: Imaging the innermost regions of protoplanetary disks with polarimetric interferometry

Abstract

Direct imaging of protoplanetary disks promises to provide key insight into the complex sequence of processes by which planets are formed. However imaging the innermost region of such disks (a zone critical to planet formation) is challenging for traditional observational techniques (such as near-IR imaging and coronagraphy) due to the relatively long wavelengths involved and the area occulted by the coronagraphic mask. Here we introduce a new instrument -- VAMPIRES -- which combines non-redundant aperture-masking interferometry with differential polarimetry to directly image this previously inaccessible innermost region. By using the polarisation of light scattered by dust in the disk to provide precise differential calibration of interferometric visibilities and closure phases, VAMPIRES allows direct imaging at and beyond the telescope diffraction limit. Integrated into the SCExAO system at the Subaru telescope, VAMPIRES operates at visible wavelengths (where polarisation is high) while allowing simultaneous infrared observations conducted by HICIAO. Here we describe the instrumental design and unique observing technique and present the results of the first on-sky commissioning observations, validating the excellent visibility and closure phase precision which are then used to project expected science performance metrics.

References in corpus (21)

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• Evidence for a developing gap in a 10 Myr old protoplanetary disk
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Cited by in corpus (31)

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• Imaging Extrasolar Giant Planets
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• SPHERE / ZIMPOL observations of the symbiotic system R Aqr. I. Imaging of the stellar binary and the innermost jet clouds
• Calibration of the island effect: Experimental validation of closed-loop focal plane wavefront control on Subaru/SCExAO
• SCExAO, an instrument with a dual purpose: perform cutting-edge science and develop new technologies
• On-sky verification of Fast and Furious focal-plane wavefront sensing: Moving forward toward controlling the island effect at Subaru/SCExAO
• An H-band Vector Vortex Coronagraph for the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme-Adaptive Optics System
• Laboratory and On-Sky Validation of the Shaped Pupil Coronagraph's Sensitivity to Low-Order Aberrations With Active Wavefront Control
• Characterizing Vibrations at the Subaru Telescope for the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics instrument
• On-sky validation of image-based adaptive optics wavefront sensor referencing
• SCExAO and Keck Direct Imaging Discovery of a Low-Mass Companion Around the Accelerating F5 Star HIP 5319
• Differential speckle polarimetry at Cassegrain and Nasmyth foci
• Predicting exoplanet observability in time, contrast, separation and polarization, in scattered light
• Multiplexed Holographic Aperture Masking with liquid-crystal geometric phase masks
• Adaptive optics in high-contrast imaging
• Kernel Phase and Kernel Amplitude in Fizeau Imaging
• Single-aperture spectro-interferometry in the visible at the Subaru telescope with FIRST: First on-sky demonstration on Keho'oea (α Lyrae) and Hokulei (α Aurigae)
• Review and prospects of hot exozodiacal dust research for future exo-Earth direct imaging missions
• Monitoring inner regions in the RY Tau jet
• Overview of focal plane wavefront sensors to correct for the Low Wind Effect on SUBARU/SCExAO
• Calibration of the instrumental polarization effects of SCExAO-CHARIS' spectropolarimetric mode
• Performance of the Gemini Planet Imager Non-Redundant Mask and spectroscopy of two close-separation binaries HR 2690 and HD 142527
• The envelope of the semiregular variable V CVn
• Fully broadband vAPP coronagraphs enabling polarimetric high contrast imaging
• OASIS Survey Direct Imaging and Astrometric Discovery of HIP 71618 B: A Substellar Companion Suitable for the Roman Coronagraph Technology Demonstration
• FIRST, a Pupil-Remapping Fiber Interferometer at the Subaru Telescope: on-sky results
• High contrast imaging at the photon noise limit with self-calibrating WFS/C systems
• Focal Plane Wavefront Sensing on SUBARU/SCExAO
• Newborn jet in the symbiotic system R Aquarii
• Pioneering high contrast science instruments for planet characterization on giant segmented mirror telescopes