Programmed but Arbitrary Control Minimization of Amplitude and phase for speckle Nulling (PACMAN)

Abstract

We revive a cross-platform focal-plane wavefront sensing and control algorithm originally released in 1980 and show that it can provide significant contrast improvements over conventional control methods on coronagraphic instruments. Its simplicity makes it applicable to various coronagraph models and we demonstrate it on a classical Lyot coronagraph and a phase-apodized pupil Lyot coronagraph, both in simulation and in laboratory experiments. Surprisingly, it had been forgotten for decades, but we present its unbeatable advantages considering the increase in computational power in the last 40 years. We consider it a major game changer in the planning for future, space-based high-contrast imaging missions and recommend it be intensively revisited by all readers.