Study on an achromatic high-contrast polarimetric astronomical observation system using a pupil-remapping optics

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26287026
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Astronomy
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Murakami Naoshi 北海道大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (80450188)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NISHIKAWA Jun 国立天文台, 光赤外研究部, 助教 (70280568) ; TAMURA Motohide 東京大学, 大学院理学系研究科, 教授 (00260018) ; BABA Naoshi 北海道大学, 名誉教授 (70143261)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 光赤外線天文学 / 応用光学・量子光工学 / 太陽系外惑星 / コロナグラフ / 偏光

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For directly detecting extrasolar planets (planets orbiting around stars other than the Sun), we developed a high-contrast astronomical instrument to strongly reject bright starlight which is obstacle to detection of faint planetary light. We proposed new high-contrast techniques (a pupil-remapping optical system for focal-plane phase-mask coronagraphs, a polarimetric technique based on speckle decorrelation method, and so on), and carried out computer simulation and laboratory demonstration to evaluate the performance of the proposed techniques. Results of the computer simulation and the laboratory demonstration suggest that the proposed techniques can strongly reject bright starlight even when using a telescope which is not optimized for observations of extrasolar planets.

Free Research Field

天文光学