Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme-AO (SCExAO) wavefront control: current status and ongoing developments

Abstract

Exoplanet imaging requires excellent wavefront correction and calibration. At the Subaru telescope this is achieved us- ing the 188-element facility adaptive optics system(AO188) feeding the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) instrument; a multipurpose instrument built to deliver high contrast images of planets and disks around nearby stars. AO188 offers coarse correction while SCExAO performs fine correction and calibration of 1000 modes. The full system achieves 90%Strehl Ratio in H-band and diffraction limited images. A new Real Time Computer allowing higher performance between SCExAO and AO188 is currently implemented. Future upgrades will include a new Pyramid Wavefront Sensor and (64x64) DM to achieve extreme AO correction inside AO188. We are progressing in the development of predictive control and sensor fusion algorithms across the system to improve performance and calibration. With the new upgrades, SCExAO will be able to image giant planets in reflected light with Subaru and validate technologies necessary to image habitable Earth-like planets with the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).

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