Advanced vortex phase masks and techniques

The optical vortex coronagraph has shown great performance advances over the last several years, both in the laboratory and on the world's largest telescopes. Our primary objective here is to push the development of optical vortex phase masks in the directions needed by NASA for coronagraphic space missions currently under study - this includes masks capable of deeper contrasts and broader bandwidths for missions such as Habex and LUVOIR, and removing polarization sensitivity and increasing throughput by developing scalar vortices. Our proposed work has several specific goals aligned with individual mission needs. 1) We will extend the high-contrast bandwidth performance of liquid crystal polymer masks; bandwidths of 20-30% would minimize the number of vortex masks that need to be flown on any given mission, and would allow their effective use with spectrometers. 2) We will develop masks capable of reaching 10e-10 contrast. 3) We will develop masks with a reflective central spot conducive to use with low-order wavefront sensors. 4) We will develop scalar vortices without intrinsic polarization sensitivity. These masks will be tested on our existing Infrared Coronagraphic Testbed at JPL and High Contrast Spectroscopic Testbed at Caltech. The ultimate high-performance, broadband visible wavelength masks would be made available for testing in JPL's general purpose coronagraphic testbed (as part of the SAT/TDEM program, if approved). The ability to image faint exoplanets and disks very close to bright stars is key to NASA's strategic goal of creating a census of extrasolar planets and measuring their properties, and calls for the development of very high-contrast coronagraphic techniques, such as the vortex phase mask, which can reach very small angles. Our planned work will allow us to produce high-quality vortex phase masks specifically needed by NASA's high contrast coronagraphic mission concepts such as Exo-C, Habex and LUVOIR. In the near term, our masks will be used with the Picture-C coronagraphic balloon, and various ground-based telescopes.

The Astrophysics Research and Analysis program (APRA) supports suborbital and suborbital-class investigations, development of detectors and supporting technology, laboratory astrophysics, and limited ground based observing. Basic research proposals in these areas are solicited for investigations that are relevant to NASA's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including the entire range of photons, gravitational waves, and particle astrophysics. The emphasis of this solicitation is on technologies and investigations that advance NASA astrophysics missions and goals.

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