SCExAO, an instrument with a dual purpose: perform cutting-edge science and develop new technologies

Abstract

The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument is an extremely modular high-contrast instrument installed on the Subaru telescope in Hawaii. SCExAO has a dual purpose. Its position in the northern hemisphere on a 8-meter telescope makes it a prime instrument for the detection and characterization of exoplanets and stellar environments over a large portion of the sky. In addition, SCExAO's unique design makes it the ideal instrument to test innovative technologies and algorithms quickly in a laboratory setup and subsequently deploy them on-sky. SCExAO benefits from a first stage of wavefront correction with the facility adaptive optics AO188, and splits the 600-2400 nm spectrum towards a variety of modules, in visible and near infrared, optimized for a large range of science cases. The integral field spectrograph CHARIS, with its J, H or K-band high-resolution mode or its broadband low-resolution mode, makes SCExAO a prime instrument for exoplanet detection and characterization. Here we report on the recent developments and scientific results of the SCExAO instrument. Recent upgrades were performed on a number of modules, like the visible polarimetric module VAMPIRES, the high-performance infrared coronagraphs, various wavefront control algorithms, as well as the real-time controller of AO188. The newest addition is the 20k-pixel Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKIDS) Exoplanet Camera (MEC) that will allow for previously unexplored science and technology developments. MEC, coupled with novel photon-counting speckle control, brings SCExAO closer to the final design of future high-contrast instruments optimized for Giant Segmented Mirror Telescopes (GSMTs).

arXiv comment12 pages, 9 figures, conference proceedings (SPIE Astronomical telescopes and instrumentation 2018)

References in corpus (9)

• The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics system: enabling high-contrast imaging on solar-system scales
• On-sky speckle nulling demonstration at small angular separation with SCExAO
• The VAMPIRES instrument: Imaging the innermost regions of protoplanetary disks with polarimetric interferometry
• The Vector-APP: a Broadband Apodizing Phase Plate that yields Complementary PSFs
• The Asymmetric Pupil Fourier Wavefront Sensor
• Lyot-based Low Order Wavefront Sensor for Phase-mask Coronagraphs: Principle, Simulations and Laboratory Experiments
• FIRST, a fibered aperture masking instrument. I. First on-sky test results
• On-sky demonstration of low-order wavefront sensing and control with focal plane phase mask coronagraphs
• SCExAO and GPI $YJH$ Band Photometry and Integral Field Spectroscopy of the Young Brown Dwarf Companion to HD 1160

Cited by in corpus (12)

• 2023 Astrophotonics Roadmap: pathways to realizing multi-functional integrated astrophotonic instruments
• Retrieval study of cool, directly imaged exoplanet 51 Eri b
• Minimizing the polarization leakage of geometric-phase coronagraphs with multiple grating pattern combinations
• Stochastic Speckle Discrimination with Time-Tagged Photon Lists: Digging Below the Speckle Noise Floor
• Millisecond Exoplanet Imaging, I: Method and Simulation Results
• Multiband imaging of the HD 36546 debris disk: a refined view from SCExAO/CHARIS
• Laboratory Demonstration of Spatial Linear Dark Field Control For Imaging Extrasolar Planets in Reflected Light
• Real-time estimation and correction of quasi-static aberrations in ground-based high contrast imaging systems with high frame-rates
• Advances in control of a Pyramid Single Conjugate Adaptive Optics system
• Fully broadband vAPP coronagraphs enabling polarimetric high contrast imaging
• Precision speckle pattern reconstruction for high contrast imaging
• CoronaGraph Instrument Reference stars for Exoplanets (CorGI-REx) I. Preliminary Vetting and Implications for the Roman Coronagraph and Habitable Worlds Observatory