Complex apodized Lyot coronagraph for exoplanet imaging with partially obscured telescope apertures

We update the design, performance, and future prospects for the complex apodized Lyot coronagraph. We extend previous design work for off axis telescope with unobscured circular pupils, now to designs for high-contrast exoplanet imaging and spectroscopy with complicated pupil obscurations such as the WFIRST/AFTA telescope. Together with a pair of deformable mirrors for active wavefront control, the complex apodized Lyot coronagraph creates high contrast dark fields of view extending to within angular separations of 3 λ/D from the central star, over spectral bandwidths of 10% or more, and with throughput efficiencies greater than 35%.