The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme-AO Project

The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme AO (SCExAO) Project is an upgrade to the newly commissioned coronagraphic imager HiCIAO for the Subaru Telescope, in the context of a massive survey for exoplanets and disks called SEEDS. SCExAO combines a high-performance coronagraph PIAA coronagraph and non-redundant aperture masking interferometry to a MEMS-based wavefront control system to be used in addition to the 188- actuator Subaru Adaptive Optics (AO188) system. The upgrade is designed as a flexible platform with easy access to both pupil and image planes to allow quick implementation of new high-angular resolution techniques, using a combination of interferometry and coronagraphy. The SCExAO system will enhance SEEDS by offering access to smaller separations and improved PSF calibration, and will therefore allow high quality follow-up observations of challenging SEEDS candidates. SCExAO will also enable new science investigations requiring high contrast imaging of the innermost (< 0.2 arc second) surrounding of stars.

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