Paper 14145-282
Paper 14145-282
Coupling free space light into the AstroPIC photonic coronagraph
9 July 2026 • 17:30 - 19:00 CEST | Room B4-M3
Abstract
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) requires an unprecedented contrast of 1e-10 to characterize Exo-Earth atmospheres. Conventional free-space optics struggle with the stability and wavefront error correction needed for this high-contrast imaging, jeopardizing the mission’s exoplanet yield. Integrated photonics (PICs) offer a critical solution, providing superior stability, control, and compactness to boost coronagraph performance.
However, efficiently injecting light collected from the free-space telescope into the micron-scale PIC remains a major technical hurdle that directly limits system throughput. At NASA Ames, the AstroPIC laboratory is dedicated to optimize this injection efficiency. Our research progresses from single-fiber coupling to using a microlens arrays to maximize fill factor. Future efforts include utilizing wavefront information derived from the photonic coronagraph to drive a deformable mirror for active injection optimization into the PIC
Presenter
NASA Ames Research Ctr. (United States)
Eduardo Bendek is a scientist and engineer who has worked for NASA for eleven years, seven at NASA Ames and four more at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was part of the team that designed and built the Coronagraph Instrument to search for planets around other stars that will be launched aboard the Roman Space Telescope. He also served as Principal Investigator of a laboratory dedicated to the development of technologies for exoplanet detection at NASA Ames and later at JPL.