Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization on Centrally Obscured Pupils: Design and First Laboratory Demonstration for the Subaru Telescope Pupil

Abstract

High-contrast coronagraphic imaging is challenging for telescopes with central obstructions and thick spider vanes, such as the Subaru Telescope. We present in this article the first laboratory demonstration of a high-efficiency PIAA-type coronagraph on such a pupil, using coronagraphic optics which will be part of the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme-AO (SCExAO) system currently under assembly. Lossless pupil apodization is performed by a set of aspheric PIAA lenses specifically designed to also remove the pupil's central obstruction, coupled with a spider removal plate (SRP) which removes spider vanes by translating four parts of the pupil with tilted plane-parallel plates. An "inverse-PIAA" system, located after the coronagraphic focal plane mask, is used to remove off-axis aberrations and deliver a wide field of view. Our results validate the concept adopted for the SCExAO system, and show that the Subaru Telescope pupil can be properly apodized for high-contrast coronagraphic imaging as close as≈1 λ/D with no loss of sensitivity. We also verify that off-axis aberrations in the system are in agreement with theory, and that the inverse PIAA system recovers a wide usable field of view for exoplanet detection and disks imaging.