Snapshot Coronagraphy with an Interferometer in Space

Abstract Diluted arrays of many optical apertures will be able to provide high-resolution snapshot images if the beams are combined according to the densified-pupil scheme. We show that the same principle can also provide coronagraphic images, for detecting faint sources near a bright unresolved one. Recent refinements of coronagraphic techniques, i.e., the use of a phase mask, active apodization, and dark-speckle analysis, are also applicable for enhanced contrast. Implemented in the form of a proposed 50- to 500-m Exo-Earth Discoverer array in space, the principle can serve to detect Earth-like exo-planets in the infrared. It can also provide images of faint nebulosity near stars, active galactic nuclei, and quasars. Calculations indicate that exo-planets are detectable amidst the zodiacal and exo-zodiacal emission faster than with a Bracewell array of equivalent area, a consequence of the spatial selectivity in the image.