Kavli Affiliate: Bruce Macintosh
| First 5 Authors: Kyle Van Gorkom, Kyle Van Gorkom, , ,
| Summary:
NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to achieve starlight
suppression to the $10^-10$ level for the detection and spectral
characterization of Earth-like exoplanets. Broadband ozone absorption features
are key biosignatures that appear in the 200-400nm near-ultraviolet (UV)
regime. Extending coronagraphy from visible wavelengths to the UV, however,
brings with it a number of challenges, including tighter requirements on
wavefront sensing and control, optical surface quality, scattered light, and
polarization aberrations, among other things. We aim to partially quantify and
address these challenges with a combination of modeling, high-resolution
metrology to the scales required for UV coronagraphy, and ultimately a
demonstration of UV coronagraphy on the Space Coronagraph Optical Bench (SCoOB)
vacuum testbed. In these proceedings, we provide a status update on our
modeling and contrast budgeting efforts, characterization efforts to understand
performance limitations set by key optical components, and our plans to move
toward a demonstration of UV coronagraphy.
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