activity
20242026
collaborators

16 papers

astro-ph.IM2026

Initial modeling and testbed feasibility studies of WaveDriver: a laser guide star AO system for HWO

Dominic F. Sanchez, Benjamin L. Gerard, Peter Waswa +16

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will require greater wavefront stability than achieved by JWST, pushing conventional telescope architectures to picometer-level…

astro-ph.IM2026

Design and simulation of a photonic lantern-inspired astrophotonic chip for spectral sensing

Avi Patel, Kevin A. Bundy, Aditya Sengupta +10

Compact astrophotonic sensors can trade general-purpose spectral coverage for task-specific wavelength discrimination in a small integrated footprint. Developed with the Mazin Lab…

astro-ph.IM2026

On-sky results from REDWOODS, a platform at Lick/ShaneAO for testing second stage AO technologies

Benjamin L. Gerard, Dominic F. Sanchez, Aditya R. Sengupta +11

REDWOODS is a new sub-testbed within the Shane Adaptive Optics (AO) system at Lick observatory, developed to test second stage AO wavefront sensing and control technologies, includ…

astro-ph.IM2026

Demonstrating the integration of a photonic lantern with an all-fiber-based nulling interferometer

Jordan Diaz, Rebecca Jensen-Clem, Philip M. Hinz +12

High-contrast imaging of Solar System scale exoplanets and protoplanets demands advancements in instrumentation to access deeper starlight suppression at smaller angular separation…

astro-ph.IM2026

Laboratory characterization of a multi-photonic lantern optical waveguide using off-axis holography

Aditya R. Sengupta, Benjamin L. Gerard, Dominic Sanchez +7

Photonic lanterns (PLs) are waveguides that convert multi-mode input light to single-mode outputs. Wavefront sensing (WFS) and spectroscopy using a PL have been demonstrated, but P…

astro-ph.IM2026

Experimentally-determined performance limits for joint imaging and wavefront sensing with a photonic lantern

Aditya R. Sengupta, Vincent Chambouleyron, Rebecca Jensen-Clem +16

The photonic lantern (PL) is a focal-plane wavefront sensor (WFS) that can be used for second-stage control of extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems. While the number of sensed mode…

astro-ph.IM2026

WaveDriver: a Laser Guide Star AO System for HWO

Benjamin L. Gerard, Alex Geringer-Sameth, Aditya R. Sengupta +7

Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) presents a key challenge for technology development in the coming years, requiring a more stable system than \textit{JWST}. WaveD…

astro-ph.IM2026

Control algorithms for dual-wavefront sensor single-conjugate adaptive optics

Aditya R. Sengupta, Lisa A. Poyneer, Benjamin L. Gerard +2

High-contrast imaging systems using active control with adaptive optics (AO) are often limited by non-common path (NCP) aberrations that are seen only at the final science image. A…

astro-ph.IM2025

On-sky demonstration of second-stage wavefront control with a photonic lantern

Aditya R. Sengupta, Jordan Diaz, Matthew DeMartino +14

Ground-based direct imaging of exoplanets at high contrast requires precise correction of atmospheric turbulence using adaptive optics (AO). The planet-to-star contrast ratio at sm…

astro-ph.IM2025

The Santa Cruz Extreme AO Lab (SEAL) 2.0: A reflective, multi-wavelength rebuild

Rebecca Jensen-Clem, Vincent Chambouleyron, Prince Javier +20

The Santa cruz Extreme Adaptive optics Lab (SEAL) is a visible/near-infrared wavelength testbed designed to support technology development for high contrast imaging on large, segme…

astro-ph.IM2025

WaveDriver: a Laser Guide Star AO System for HWO

Benjamin L. Gerard, Alex Geringer-Sameth, Aditya R. Sengupta +16

HWO's Tier 1 Contrast Stability Technology Gap presents a key challenge for technology development in the coming years, requiring to a >100x more stable system than JWST. WaveDrive…

astro-ph.IM2025

Exploring the Capabilities of Astrophotonics for the Precise Alignment of Segmented Telescopes

Maria Cuevas, Aditya R. Sengupta, Vincent Chambouleyron +9

The next generation of large telescopes for direct imaging of exoplanets will require segmented primary mirrors. Over both long and short timescales, these telescopes experience se…

astro-ph.IM2025

Experimental validation of photonic lantern imaging and wavefront sensing performance

Aditya R. Sengupta, Vincent Chambouleyron, Jordan Diaz +15

Photonic lanterns (PLs) are fiber-based waveguides that are capable of focal-plane wavefront sensing while simultaneously directing light to downstream science instruments. The opt…

astro-ph.EP2025

Condensation Clouds in Substellar Atmospheres with Virga

Natasha E. Batalha, Caoimhe M. Rooney, Channon Visscher +14

Here we present an open-source cloud model for substellar atmospheres, called Virga. The Virga-v0 series has already been widely adopted in the literature. It is written in Python…

astro-ph.IM2025

Developments on LLNL's high contrast testbed and Lick/ShaneAO

Benjamin L. Gerard, Dominic F. Sanchez, Aditya R. Sengupta +15

LLNL has recently setup a High Contrast Testbed (HCT) for AO and exoplanet imaging technology development. We present the various HCT technologies currently under development, incl…

astro-ph.IM2024

Photonic lantern wavefront reconstruction in a multi-wavefront sensor single-conjugate adaptive optics system

Aditya R. Sengupta, Jordan Diaz, Benjamin L. Gerard +6

Exoplanet direct imaging using adaptive optics (AO) is often limited by non-common path aberrations (NCPAs) and aberrations that are invisible to traditional pupil-plane wavefront…