A broadband scalar optical vortex coronagraph

Abstract

In recent years, new coronagraphic schemes have been proposed, the most promising being the optical vortex phase mask coronagraphs. In our work, a new scheme of broadband optical scalar vortex coronagraph is proposed and characterized experimentally in the laboratory. Our setup employs a pair of computer generated phase gratings (one of them containing a singularity) to control the chromatic dispersion of phase plates and achieves a constant peak-to-peak attenuation below 1:1000 over a bandwidth of 120 nm centered at 700 nm. An inner working angle of $λ$/D is demonstrated along with a raw contrast of 11.5\,magnitudes at 2$λ$/D. A more compact setup achieves a peak-to-peak attenuation below 1:1000 over a bandwidth of 60 nm with the other results remaining the same.

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instumentation Conference 2014, Paper 9151-214, 7 pages, 5 figures