Dr. John H. Debes Profile

Dr. John H. Debes

ESA/AURA Astronomer

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (25)

Proceedings Article | 5 October 2023 Poster + Paper

NMF-based GPU accelerated coronagraphy pipeline

Sai Krishanth P. M., Ewan Douglas, Justin Hom, Ramya Anche, John Debes, Isabel Rebollido, Bin Ren

Proceedings Volume 12680, 1268021 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2677739

KEYWORDS: Point spread functions, Stars, Signal to noise ratio, Coronagraphy, Matrices, James Webb Space Telescope, Space telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope coronagraph instrument observation calibration plan

Robert Zellem, Bijan Nemati, Guillermo Gonzalez, Marie Ygouf, Vanessa Bailey, Eric Cady, M. Mark Colavita, Sergi Hildebrandt, Erin Maier, Bertrand Mennesson, Lindsey Payne, Neil Zimmerman, Ruslan Belikov, Robert De Rosa, John Debes, Ewan Douglas, Julien Girard, Tyler Groff, Jeremy Kasdin, Patrick Lowrance, Bruce Macintosh, Daniel Ryan, Carey Weisberg

Proceedings Volume 12180, 121801Z (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2627567

KEYWORDS: Calibration, Stars, Coronagraphy, Planets, Sensors, Polarization, Point spread functions, Error analysis, Signal to noise ratio, Uranus

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Proceedings Article | 27 August 2022 Poster + Paper

Simulations of polarimetric observations of debris disks through the Roman Coronagraph Instrument

Ramya Anche, Ewan Douglas, Kian Milani, Jaren Ashcraft, John Debes

Proceedings Volume 12180, 1218056 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629497

KEYWORDS: Polarization, Mathematical modeling, Polarimetry, Point spread functions, Coronagraphy, Light scattering, Electron multiplying charge coupled devices, Device simulation

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Proceedings Article | 1 September 2021 Poster + Paper

Flight mask designs of the Roman Space Telescope coronagraph instrument

A. J. Eldorado Riggs, Vanessa Bailey, Dwight Moody, Erkin Sidick, Kunjithapatham Balasubramanian, Douglas Moore, Daniel Wilson, Garreth Ruane, Dan Sirbu, Jessica Gersh-Range, John Trauger, Bertrand Mennesson, Nicholas Siegler, Eduardo Bendek, Tyler Groff, Neil Zimmerman, John Debes, Scott Basinger, N. Jeremy Kasdin

Proceedings Volume 11823, 118231Y (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2598599

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Photomasks, Exoplanets, Polarimetry, Spectroscopy, Space telescopes

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SPIE Journal Paper | 4 June 2021 Open Access

Starshade Rendezvous: exoplanet orbit constraints from multi-epoch direct imaging

Andrew Romero-Wolf, Geoffrey Bryden, Greg Agnes, Jonathan Arenberg, Samuel Case Bradford, Simone D'Amico, John Debes, Matt Greenhouse, Renyu Hu, Steve Matousek, Jason Rhodes, John Ziemer

JATIS, Vol. 7, Issue 02, 021219, (June 2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.7.2.021219

KEYWORDS: Planets, Stars, Exoplanets, Imaging systems, Signal to noise ratio, Observatories, Telescopes, Target detection, Space telescopes, Monte Carlo methods

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SPIE Journal Paper | 9 January 2021 Open Access

Starshade rendezvous: exoplanet sensitivity and observing strategy

Andrew Romero-Wolf, Geoffrey Bryden, Sara Seager, N. Jeremy Kasdin, Jeff Booth, Matt Greenhouse, Doug Lisman, Bruce Macintosh, Stuart Shaklan, Melissa Vess, Steve Warwick, David Webb, John Ziemer, Andrew Gray, Michael Hughes, Greg Agnes, Jonathan Arenberg, S. Case Bradford, Michael Fong, Jennifer Gregory, Steve Matousek, Jason Rhodes, Phil Willems, Simone D'Amico, John Debes, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Sergi Hildebrandt, Renyu Hu, Alina Kiessling, Nikole Lewis, Maxime Rizzo, Aki Roberge, Tyler Robinson, Leslie Rogers, Dmitry Savransky, Chris Stark

JATIS, Vol. 7, Issue 02, 021210, (January 2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.7.2.021210

KEYWORDS: Planets, Exoplanets, Stars, Telescopes, Signal to noise ratio, Spectroscopy, Target detection, Observatories, Sensors, Point spread functions

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Proceedings Article | 16 December 2020 Poster + Paper

A review of simulation and performance modeling tools for the Roman coronagraph instrument

Ewan Douglas, Jaren Ashcraft, Ruslan Belikov, John Debes, Jeremy Kasdin, John Krist, Brianna Lacy, Bijan Nemati, Kian Milani, Leonid Pogorelyuk, A.J. Eldorado Riggs, Dmitry Savransky, Dan Sirbu

Proceedings Volume 11443, 1144338 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561960

KEYWORDS: Device simulation, Coronagraphy, Performance modeling, Exoplanets, Aerospace engineering, Diffraction, Instrument modeling, Speckle, Signal to noise ratio

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Proceedings Article | 15 December 2020 Presentation + Paper

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Instrument (CGI) technology demonstration

N. Jeremy Kasdin, Vanessa Bailey, Bertrand Mennesson, Robert Zellem, Marie Ygouf, Jason Rhodes, Thomas Luchik, Feng Zhao, A. J. Eldorado Riggs, Byoung-Joon Seo, John Krist, Brian Kern, Hong Tang, Bijan Nemati, Tyler Groff, Neil Zimmerman, Bruce Macintosh, Margaret Turnbull, John Debes, Ewan Douglas, Roxana Lupu

Proceedings Volume 11443, 114431U (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562997

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Imaging spectroscopy, Planets, Infrared telescopes, James Webb Space Telescope, Imaging systems, Wavefronts, Algorithm development, Jupiter, Infrared radiation

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Proceedings Article | 9 September 2019 Paper

Simulating the effects of exozodiacal dust in WFIRST CGI observations

Ewan Douglas, John Debes, Kian Milani, Yinzi Xin, Kerri Cahoy, Nikole Lewis, Bruce Macintosh

Proceedings Volume 11117, 111170K (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2529488

KEYWORDS: Infrared telescopes, Stars, Light scattering, Space operations, Exoplanets, Infrared imaging, Infrared radiation, Telescopes, Coronagraphy, Color imaging

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Proceedings Article | 9 September 2019 Presentation

WFIRST design reference mission: the coronagraph instrument (Conference Presentation)

Vanessa Bailey, Dmitry Savransky, John Debes, Bertrand Mennesson, Robert Zellem

Proceedings Volume 11117, 111170E (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2527942

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Infrared telescopes, Visible radiation, Infrared imaging, Infrared radiation, Telescopes, Imaging systems, Spectrographs, Exoplanets, Calibration

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SPIE Journal Paper | 13 June 2019 Open Access

Pushing the limits of the coronagraphic occulters on Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph

John Debes, Bin Ren, Glenn Schneider

JATIS, Vol. 5, Issue 03, 035003, (June 2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.5.3.035003

KEYWORDS: Point spread functions, Stars, Coronagraphy, Speckle, Sensors, Telescopes, Signal to noise ratio, Space operations, Hubble Space Telescope, Charge-coupled devices

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Proceedings Article | 1 August 2018 Presentation + Paper

The WFIRST coronagraph instrument: a major step in the exploration of sun-like planetary systems via direct imaging

Bertrand Mennesson, J. Debes, E. Douglas, B. Nemati, C. Stark, J. Kasdin, B. Macintosh, M. Turnbull, M. Rizzo, A. Roberge, N. Zimmerman, K. Cahoy, J. Krist, V. Bailey, J. Trauger, J. Rhodes, L. Moustakas, M. Frerking, F. Zhao, I. Poberezhskiy, R. Demers

Proceedings Volume 10698, 106982I (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313861

KEYWORDS: Stars, Coronagraphy, Planets, Imaging systems, Solar system, Clouds, Spatial resolution, Mid-IR, Visible radiation, Exoplanets

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Proceedings Article | 19 September 2017 Presentation

Science capabilities of the WFIRST coronagraph (Conference Presentation)

Bruce Macintosh, Margaret Turnbull, N. Jeremy Kasdin, John Debes, Tom Greene, Nikole Lewis, Mark Marley, Bijan Nemati, Aki Roberge, Tyler Robinson, Dmitry Savransky, Chris Stark

Proceedings Volume 10400, 1040002 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2276969

KEYWORDS: Exoplanets, Spectroscopes, Spectroscopy, Telescopes, Imaging systems, Spectrographs, Photometry, Planets, Imaging spectroscopy, Polarimetry

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Proceedings Article | 1 September 2017 Paper

Post-processing of the HST STIS coronagraphic observations

Bin Ren, Laurent Pueyo, Marshall Perrin, John Debes, Élodie Choquet

Proceedings Volume 10400, 1040021 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2274163

KEYWORDS: Space telescopes, Telescopes, Imaging systems, Coronagraphy, Exoplanets, Stars, Hubble Space Telescope, Calibration, Adaptive optics, Gemini Planet Imager

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SPIE Journal Paper | 23 December 2015

Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope–Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets coronagraphic operations: lessons learned from the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope

John Debes, Marie Ygouf, Elodie Choquet, Dean Hines, Marshall Perrin, David Golimowski, Charles-Phillipe Lajoie, Johan Mazoyer, Laurent Pueyo, Rémi Soummer, Roeland van der Marel

JATIS, Vol. 2, Issue 01, 011010, (December 2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.2.1.011010

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, James Webb Space Telescope, Point spread functions, Space telescopes, Telescopes, Infrared telescopes, Stars, Sensors, Space operations, Astronomical telescopes

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Proceedings Article | 18 September 2015 Paper

Characterizing, controlling, and correcting distortions in the COS FUV detector

David Sahnow, George Becker, John Debes, Justin Ely, Sean Lockwood, Derck Massa, Cristina Oliveira, Steven Penton, Charles Proffitt, Julia Roman-Duval, Hugues Sana, Paule Sonnentrucker, Joanna Taylor

Proceedings Volume 9601, 96010Q (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2188529

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Calibration, Microchannel plates, Electronics, Target acquisition, Spectral calibration, Spectrographs, Hubble Space Telescope, Analog electronics, Dispersion

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Proceedings Article | 28 August 2014 Paper

Archival legacy investigations of circumstellar environments: overview and first results

Élodie Choquet, Laurent Pueyo, J. Brendan Hagan, Elena Gofas-Salas, Abhijith Rajan, Christine Chen, Marshall Perrin, John Debes, David Golimowski, Dean Hines, Mamadou N'Diaye, Glenn Schneider, Dimitri Mawet, Christian Marois, Rémi Soummer

Proceedings Volume 9143, 914357 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056672

KEYWORDS: Point spread functions, Stars, Coronagraphy, Databases, Planets, Space telescopes, Telescopes, Image processing, Signal to noise ratio, Target detection

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Proceedings Article | 26 September 2013 Paper

Characterization, modeling, and management of the COS FUV detector lifetime

David Sahnow, Alessandra Aloisi, K. Azalee Bostroem, John Debes, Justin Ely, Philip Hodge, Gerard Kriss, Derck Massa, Cristina Oliveira, Rachel Osten, Steven Osterman, Steven Penton, Charles Proffitt, Julia Roman-Duval, Paule Sonnentrucker

Proceedings Volume 8859, 88590S (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2024708

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Microchannel plates, Ultraviolet radiation, Spectrographs, Hubble Space Telescope, Calibration, Far ultraviolet, Solar processes, Airglow, X-ray astronomy

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Proceedings Article | 17 September 2012 Paper

The COS FUV channel: on-orbit performance trends and early characterization of a new detector lifetime position

David Sahnow, Alessandra Aloisi, K. Azalee Bostroem, John Debes, Julia Duval, Justin Ely, Philip Hodge, Gerard Kriss, Kevin Lindsay, Derck Massa, Cristina Oliveira, Rachel Osten, Steven Osterman, Steven Penton, Charles Proffitt, Paule Sonnentrucker, Brian York

Proceedings Volume 8443, 84434C (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.926487

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Microchannel plates, Calibration, Spectrographs, Lamps, Far ultraviolet, Photons, Image segmentation, Hubble Space Telescope, Ultraviolet radiation

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Proceedings Article | 12 October 2004 Paper

Development of binary band-limited coronagraph masks for extremely high contrast imaging of extrasolar planets with Terrestrial Planet Finder

Justin Crepp, Jian Ge, John Debes, Marc Kuchner

Proceedings Volume 5487, (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.552396

KEYWORDS: Photomasks, Coronagraphy, Planets, Exoplanets, Linear filtering, Prototyping, Binary data, Astronomy, Nanofabrication, Infrared radiation

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Proceedings Article | 19 November 2003 Paper

Using notch filter masks for high-contrast imaging of extra solar planets

John Debes, Jian Ge, Marc Kuchner, Michael Rogosky

Proceedings Volume 5170, (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.505922

KEYWORDS: Photomasks, Linear filtering, Coronagraphy, Light, Light scattering, Planets, Nanofabrication, Electron beam lithography, Point spread functions, Opacity

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Proceedings Article | 7 March 2003 Paper

Design and performance of a versatile Penn State near-infrared imager and spectrograph

Jian Ge, Abhijit Chakraborty, John Debes, Deqing Ren, Jerry Friedman

Proceedings Volume 4841, (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461143

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Telescopes, Adaptive optics, Imaging spectroscopy, Silicon, Spectroscopy, Infrared imaging, Prisms, Imaging systems, Space telescopes

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A versatile near IR instrument called Penn State near IR Imager and Spectrograph (PIRIS) with a 256 x 256 PICNIC IR array has been developed at Penn State and saw its first light at the Mt. Wilson 100 inch in October 2001. The optical design consists of five optical subsystems including (1) the slit aperture wheel, (2) an achromat collimator optic, (3) a grism/filter and pupil assembly, (4) a pupil imaging optic, and (5) achromat camera optics. This instrument has imaging, spectroscopy and coronagraph modes. It is being updated to have an integral field 3-D imaging spectroscopy mode and a very high IR spectroscopy mode (R ~ 150,000) with an anamorphic silicon immersion grating in 2003. The instrument is designed to take full advantage of high Strehl ratio images delivered by high order adaptive optics systems. Its imaging mode has f/37 and f/51 optics to allow diffraction-limited imaging in H and K bands, respectively. Its spectroscopy mode has R = 20, 180, 400, 2000, and 5000. The lowest resolution is obtained with a non-deviation prism. The medium resolution spectroscopy mode is conducted with three commercial fused-silica grisms. They can be either used in long slit spectroscopy mode with a blocking filter or used as a cross-disperser for a high resolution silicon grism. High resolution spectroscopy is done with silicon grisms and cross-disperser grisms, which are designed to work on high orders (~ 80) to completely cover H and K bands for R = 5000 separately, or simultaneously cover H and K bands for R = 2000. Coronagraphy is done by inserting an apodizing mask, held in the slit aperture wheel, in the focal plane and a Lyot stop (pupil mask) at a reimaged pupil inside the dewar. Image contrast can be enhanced by using different combinations of the apodizing mask and pupil mask. Several of Gaussian pupil masks have also been installed in the pupil wheel for high contrast imaging. We have successfully detected two substellar companions during our first light at Mt. Wilson 100 inch telescope. We were also able to evaluate our cononagraphy and gaussion pupil mask modes, which demonstrate 10^-3 - 10^-4 contrast 1 arcsec region around a bright point source. A hybrid coronagraph mode, a combination of an apodizing focal plane mask with a Gaussian shaped pupil mask, has been tested and produces 10^-5 - 10^-6 deep contrast as close as 4 λ/D at 2.2 μm in the lab. Low resolution spectroscopy modes including a vision prism (R = 20) and three fused silicon grisms (R = 200 - 400) have been tested in the lab. The spectroscopy results are reported here.

Proceedings Article | 5 March 2003 Paper

New-generation IR instrument components ready for NGST

Jian Ge, John Debes, Daniel McDavitt, Shane Miller, John Bernecker

Proceedings Volume 4850, (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461778

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Silicon, Germanium, Photomasks, Diffraction gratings, Infrared imaging, Telescopes, Cameras, Spectral resolution, Stars

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At Penn State, two new instrument component technologies, namely silicon gratings and gaussian-shaped pupil masks, have been developed and are ready for producing high quality components for all three NGST IR instruments. Fabrication of silicon grisms with sizes up to 2 inches in dimension has become a routine process at Penn State thanks to newly developed techniques in chemical etching, lithography, and post-processing. The newly etched silicon grisms have a typical rms surface roughness of ~ 9 nm with the lowest of 0.9 nm, significantly lower than our previous ones (~ 20-30 nm) and have ~ 0.035 wave wavefront distortion at 0.6328 μm, indicating diffraction-limited performance in the entire infrared wavelengths (1.2 -10 μm) where silicon has excellent transmission. These processes have also significantly eliminated visible defects due to grating mask break during chemical etching. For the best grisms, we have less than 1 defect per cm². The measured total integrated scatter is less than 1% at 0.6238 mm, indicating similar or lower scatter in the IR when grisms are operated in transmission. Silicon grisms and silicon immersion gratings will both boost spectral resolving power by more than 3 times for NGST near-IR MOS and mid-IR camera and spectrograph without pushing current instrument design. The higher dispersed spectra can be selected either by a filter or a low resolution grism cross-disperser. Our current grating techniques allow us to make gratings with a groove period from a few microns to more than 100 microns. For the first order grism, the theoretical grating efficiency is beyond 80% with a single layer of AR coating. The immersion gratings will have similar grating efficiency. Based on our previous measurements of a silicon echelle grism, this kind of grism can provide ~ 60% efficiency when they are operated in high orders. We have also developed Gaussian-shaped pupil masks for high contrast imaging with the NGST IR cameras. Depending on its final mirror configuration, this kind of mask can offer 10^-6 contrast imaging as close as 5 lambda/D to a bright point source. The advantage of using this mask instead of a conventional graded Lyot coronagraph is that it is much easier to implement by simply inserting it at a pupil location to reach deep null. Therefore, the observing efficiency can be significantly improved. A prototype of this kind of mask has been tested at the Mt. Wilson 100inch telescope with adaptive optics and demonstrates 10^-3-10^-4 contrast at ~ 5 λ/D at the initial observations. The contrast level is comparable to an IR coronagraph in the same IR instrument, but is about one order of magnitude worse than the scattered light levels caused by the mirror surface. We have also studied other mask coronagraph designs for high contrast imaging. The hybrid and band-limited designs show great promise for further improving image contrast. The NGST IR cameras with new coronagraph designs will allow high contrast imaging for extra-solar planets and substellar companions around nearby stars.

Proceedings Article | 3 March 2003 Paper

High-contrast imaging with Gaussian-shaped pupils

John Debes, Jian Ge, Caylin Mandelowitz, Anne Watson

Proceedings Volume 4860, (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.457670

KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Coronagraphy, Point spread functions, Diffraction, Optical instrument design, Stars, Computer aided design, Information operations, Exoplanets, Prototyping

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Proceedings Article | 16 December 2002 Paper

Imaging survey for faint companions with shaped pupil masksl masks

Jian Ge, John Debes, Anne Watson, Abhijit Chakraborty

Proceedings Volume 4835, (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.456513

KEYWORDS: Coronagraphy, Telescopes, Space telescopes, Adaptive optics, Stars, Infrared telescopes, Optical instrument design, Planets, Point spread functions, Infrared imaging

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A combination of Spergel’s innovative gaussian-shaped pupil masks with future space-based and ground-based adaptive optics telescopes will offer great sensitivity for direct imaging of faint companions including brown dwarfs and extra-solar planets around nearby stars. Here we propose a quick way to fully achieve its potential for deep contrast imaging surveys with a great speed in a conventionally designed telescope. In our approach, two Gaussian pupil masks set on each side of the secondary obscuration, slightly penetrating the telescope spider structures, are placed in a cryogenic pupil plane in an infrared (IR) camera to allow the collimated telescope beams to pass through. This simple design will enable ~10^-6 deep contrast imaging while enjoying diffraction-limited imaging from the full telescope aperture for discovering faint companions closest to the primary. The survey speed with this design will be at least 3-4 times faster than a conventional coronagraph due to its simple alignment. This contrast should allow an image survey for Jupiter-like planets to ~ 20 pc in the thermal IR with next generation large ground-based and space based telescopes. A combination of this shaped pupil mask with an apodizing focal plane mask will enable deeper contrast than the pupil mask alone. However, it takes a much longer time to align the system, so this mode will be used for characterization of faint companion systems from the candidates identified from the survey. A prototype gaussian pupil mask in the Penn State near IR Imager and Spectrograph (PIRIS) has been tested at the Mt. Wilson 100 inch telescope with high order natural guide star adaptive optics (AO) and has demonstrated its tremendous potential. The contrast is about 10^-3-10^-4 beyond 7 λ/Δ. The contrast is about 5 times better than the direct AO image, and comparable to an IR coronagraph in the same instrument. Recent lab experiments show that 3x10^-6 at ~ 4 λ/Δ can be reached with a combination of a Gaussian pupil mask with an apodizing focal plane mask.

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