Laboratory demonstration of Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph with better than 10-⁹ contrast

Abstract

We present coronagraphic images from the Phase Induced Amplitude Apodization (PIAA) coronagraph on NASA's High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) at the Jet Propulsion Lab, showing contrasts of 5×10-¹⁰ averaged from 2-4 λ/D, in monochromatic light at 808 nm. In parallel with the coronagraph and its deformable mirror and coronagraphic wavefront control, we also demonstrate a low-order wavefront control system, giving 100× rms suppression of introduced tip/tilt disturbances down to residual levels of 10−³ λ/D. Current limitations, as well as broadband (10% fractional bandpass) preliminary results are discussed.