

Demonstration of High Contrast in Broadband Light at a Flight-like Fresnel Number

Demonstration of High Contrast in Broadband Light at a Flight-like Fresnel Number
28/03/19, 00:00
We report the results of high-contrast measurements with a laboratory starshade mask at four laser wavelengths spanning 640 - 725 nm.
We report the results of high-contrast measurements with a laboratory starshade mask at four laser wavelengths spanning 640 - 725 nm. Using the same experimental configuration reported in Milestone 1A, with the starshade set up in a flight-like diffraction regime with the Fresnel number N = 12.2 at the inner working angle (IWA) for the longest wavelength, we find that on average 15% of the IWA has a contrast better than 10−10, the average contrast at the IWA is 2.0×10−10, 75% of the search space is below 10−10, and the minumum observed contrast in the open regions of the mask is 2 × 10−11.