Study of a coronagraphic mask using evanescent waves.

The evanescent wave coronagraph (EvWaCo) is a specific kind of band-limited coronagraph using the frustrated total internal reflection phenomenon to produce the coronagraphic effect (removing starlight from the image plane in order to make the stellar environment detectable). In this paper, we present a theoretical and experimental study of the EvWaCo coronagraphic mask. First, we calculate the theoretical transmission and we show that this mask is partially achromatic. Then, we present the experimental results obtained in unpolarized light at the wavelength λ≈900 nm and relative spectral bandwidth Δλ/λ≈6%. In particular, we show that the coronagraph provides a contrast down to a few 10-6 at an angular distance of about ten Airy radii.

Design and performance estimate of a focal reducer for the 2.3 m Thai National Telescope.

We have designed a new kind of focal reducer for the 2.3 m Thai National Telescope (TNT) to image the TNT specified FOV Δθ = 14.6' with an angular resolution α ≈1.2 arcsec. This, at a minimum cost by using common glasses, spherical surfaces and by requiring comfortable mechanical tolerance. This focal reducer comprises 1 lens placed at the level of the fork entrance and 1 lens placed in front of the detector. In this paper, we present the focal reducer paraxial model, we describe the optical design and we present the performance.

Stable deep nulling in polychromatic unpolarized light with multiaxial beam combination.

In the context of the space-based nulling mission ESA-Darwin, Thales Alenia Space has developed a nulling breadboard for the European Space Agency (ESA): the multiaperture imaging interferometer (MAII) to demonstrate deep and stable nulling and to investigate various subsystems of the ESA-Darwin interferometer. Recently, we have extended our investigations to the multiaxial beam combination. This combination scheme presents many advantages: simplicity, compactness, and a high coupling efficiency for a three-beam combination. The near-infrared (lambda approximately 1.55 microm) MAII breadboard has been upgraded to the multiaxial beam combination. Polarization and stability issues have been thoroughly investigated. We report on the recent results we have obtained with the multiaxial configuration of MAII in unpolarized light with a relative spectral bandwidth of 5%: nulling ratios of mean value N=1.7 x 10(-5), stable over 1 h with a standard deviation sigma( N )=5.7 x 10(-7). These results indicate that the multiaxial beam combination has the potential to meet Darwin requirements.