Open-loop control of SCExAO’s MEMS deformable mirror using the Fast Iterative Algorithm: speckle control performances

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) deformable mirrors (DMs) are widely utilized in astronomical Adaptive Optics (AO) instrumentation. High precision open-loop control of MEMS DMs has been achieved by developing a high accuracy DM model, the Fast Iterative Algorithm (FIA), a physics-based model allowing precise control of the DM shape. Accurate open-loop control is particularly critical for the wavefront control of High- Contrast Imaging (HCI) instruments to create a dark hole area free of most slow and quasi-static speckles which remain the limiting factor for direct detection and imaging of exoplanets. The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) system is one of these high contrast imaging instruments and uses a 1024-actuator MEMS deformable mirror (DM) both in closed-loop and open-loop. The DM is used to modulate speckles in order to distinguish (i) speckles due to static and slow-varying residual aberrations from (ii) speckles due to genuine structures, such as exoplanets. The FIA has been fully integrated into the SCExAO wavefront control software and we report the FIA’s performance for the control of speckles in the focal plane.