Optical design and quantitative perturbation analysis of a nulling interferometer
H. Vlot (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Jérome Loicq – Mentor (TU Delft - Spaceborne Instrumentation)
Rudolf Saathof – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Space Systems Egineering)
Aurele Adam – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - ImPhys/Adam group)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Finding signs of life on planets outside of Earth is an ongoing challenge in astronomy. Nulling interferometry is a promising method to not only detect exoplanets, but also allow for characterization of their atmospheres. Nulling interferometry has been demonstrated on ground, but with limited success, due to atmospheric turbulence. To maximize the potential, a space-based observatory is needed. In the early 2000s, several space based missions were proposed, which marked the start of many system studies. Nonetheless, considerations on the telescope design are lacking in the literature. To gain new insights in the behavior of a space-based nulling interferometer under operational conditions, several designs were made in Code V for this study, including an off-axis Cassegrain, Ritchey-Chretien (RC) and Gregorian. By means of a numerical perturbation analysis, the RC was shown to be the most promising.