Developing post-coronagraphic, high-resolution spectroscopy for terrestrial planet characterization on ELTs

Spectroscopic observations are extremely important for determining the composition, structure, and surface gravity of exoplanetary atmospheres. High resolution spectroscopy of the planet itself has only been demonstrated a handful of times. By using advanced high contrast imagers, it is possible to conduct high resolution spectroscopy on imageable exoplanets, after the star light is first suppressed with an advanced coronagraph. Because the planet is spatially separated in the focal plane, a single mode fiber could be used to collect the light from the planet alone, reducing the photon noise by orders of magnitude. In addition, speckle control applied to the location where an exoplanet is known to exist, can be used to preferentially reject the stellar flux from the fiber further. In this paper we will present the plans for conducting high resolution spectroscopic studies of this nature with the combination of SCExAO and IRD in the H-band on the Subaru Telescope. This technique will be critical to the characterization of terrestrial planets on ELTs and future space missions.

[1]  Andrew W. Serio,et al.  First light of the Gemini Planet Imager , 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[2]  G. Perrin,et al.  The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics System: Enabling High-Contrast Imaging on Solar-System Scales , 2015, 1507.00017.

[3]  Simon Albrecht,et al.  The orbital motion, absolute mass and high-altitude winds of exoplanet HD 209458b , 2010, Nature.

[4]  Remko Stuik,et al.  Combining high-dispersion spectroscopy with high contrast imaging : Probing rocky planets around our nearest neighbors , 2015, 1503.01136.

[5]  O. Guyon.  Phase-induced amplitude apodization of telescope pupils for extrasolar terrestrial planet imaging , 2003, astro-ph/0301190.

[6]  Dimitri Mawet,et al.  Observing Exoplanets with High Dispersion Coronagraphy. I. The Scientific Potential of Current and Next-generation Large Ground and Space Telescopes , 2017, 1703.00582.

[7]  Frantz Martinache,et al.  A Demonstration of a Versatile Low-order Wavefront Sensor Tested on Multiple Coronographs , 2017 .

[8]  Olivier Guyon,et al.  Performance of Subaru adaptive optics system AO188 , 2010, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[9]  David M. Shemo,et al.  THE VECTOR VORTEX CORONAGRAPH: LABORATORY RESULTS AND FIRST LIGHT AT PALOMAR OBSERVATORY , 2009, 0912.2287.

[10]  Jason J. Wang,et al.  Discovery and spectroscopy of the young jovian planet 51 Eri b with the Gemini Planet Imager , 2015, Science.

[11]  Frantz Martinache,et al.  On-sky speckle nulling demonstration at small angular separation with SCExAO , 2014 .

[12]  D. Mawet,et al.  Observing Exoplanets with High-dispersion Coronagraphy. II. Demonstration of an Active Single-mode Fiber Injection Unit , 2017, 1703.00583.

[13]  Olivier Guyon,et al.  Spatial linear dark field control: stabilizing deep contrast for exoplanet imaging using bright speckles , 2017 .

[14]  T. Fusco,et al.  First light of the VLT planet finder SPHERE: I. Detection and characterization of the substellar companion GJ 758 B , 2015, 1511.04076.

[15]  Olivier Guyon,et al.  Infrared Doppler instrument (IRD) for the Subaru telescope to search for Earth-like planets around nearby M-dwarfs , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[16]  Olivier Guyon,et al.  Adaptive Optics Predictive Control with Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) , 2017, 1707.00570.

[17]  Julien Lozi,et al.  Characterizing and mitigating vibrations for SCExAO , 2016, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.