Achromatic prism-based phaseshifter for nulling in the visible

H. J. P. Vink; Henk Bokhove; Bas R. Ouwerkerk; J. Pieter Kappelhof; Hedser H. van Brug; Bart Snijders; L. L. A. Vosteen

doi:10.1117/12.460741

26 February 2003 Achromatic prism-based phaseshifter for nulling in the visible

H. J. P. Vink, Henk Bokhove, Bas R. Ouwerkerk, J. Pieter Kappelhof, Hedser H. van Brug, Bart Snijders, L. L. A. Vosteen

Proceedings Volume 4852, Interferometry in Space; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460741
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

Nulling interferometry is a direct method to detect earth-like planets. To determine whether a planet is earth-like spectrometry is performed on a broadband infra-red (l = 4-20 mm) input signal from the planet. The star signal in this region is roughly 10⁶ times stronger than the planet signal. Nulling interferometry should decrease the broadband star signal by about this factor of 10⁶. This can be performed using an achromatic phaseshifter based on dispersive elements. The design of a complete breadboard under an ESA contract including a prism based (eight prisms in total) dispersive achromatic phaseshifter is presented including error budget and implied tolerances on the mechanical components. Measurements with this breadboard resulted in nulling depths of 3.5.10⁵ for polarized laser light and just below 10³ for polarized visible broadband light in the wavelength range of 530-750nm.

Citation Download Citation

H. J. P. Vink, Henk Bokhove, Bas R. Ouwerkerk, J. Pieter Kappelhof, Hedser H. van Brug, Bart Snijders, and L. L. A. Vosteen "Achromatic prism-based phaseshifter for nulling in the visible", Proc. SPIE 4852, Interferometry in Space, (26 February 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460741

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available