The Photonic Lantern Nuller: from concept to laboratory and on-sky demonstrations
Yinzi Xin, Nemanja Jovanovic, Dimitri Mawet, Daniel Echeverri, Yoo Jung Kim, Jonathan Lin, Julien Lozi, Sebastien Vievard, Olivier Guyon, Grace Piroscia, Vincent Deo, Sergio Leon-Saval, Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa, Stephanos Yerolatsitis, Sebastiaan Y. Haffert, Michael P. Fitzgerald, Pradip Gatkine, Suvinay Goyal, Barnaby Norris, Garreth Ruane, Steph Sallum
Abstract
This thesis work presents the conceptual design and experimental characterization of the Photonic Lantern Nuller instrument, which uses a multimode-to-single-mode demultiplexing waveguide to cancel out starlight while maintaining planet light, allowing for the direct characterization of planets at a telescope's diffraction limit. The PLN was experimentally characterized in the lab, where it was further enhanced using common-path wavefront sensing and control techniques, and then demonstrated on sky at the Subaru Telescope. Highlights include measured in-lab null-depths of 10-4 in three out of four ports simultaneously and on-sky null-depths of approximately 10-1 (limited by jitter and atmospheric residuals). We provide an overview of these results and discuss avenues for future work.
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