Paper 14145-263
Paper 14145-263
Integral field spectroscopy with a Habitable Worlds Observatory coronagraph instrument: design concepts and technology demonstrations
8 July 2026 • 17:30 - 19:00 CEST | Room B4-M3
Abstract
In combination with a starlight suppression system, integral field spectroscopy is a promising technique for characterizing directly imaged exoplanets. In typical implementations, the region of interest around an occulted star is spatially sampled with a microlens array and spectrally dispersed in collimated space. The dispersed light is focused onto a detector to record a grid of spectra that can be remapped to a data cube. Here we describe reflective designs that improve the efficiency of the IFS cameras baselined by recent mission concept studies. By applying anamorphic magnification with freeform mirrors, the number of detector pixels per resolution element can be halved, significantly reducing the integration times needed to detect atmospheric absorption features. We also summarize plans to demonstrate the first combined operation of an IFS with a coronagraph in a vacuum testbed at contrast levels below 1E-9 over a 20% spectroscopic bandpass.
Presenter
NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr. (United States)
Neil T. Zimmerman is the coronagraph scientist for the Roman Space Telescope Project Science team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He researches techniques for directly imaging exoplanets and supports the development of new missions through laboratory instrument demonstrations and investigations on data simulation, calibration, post-processing, and inference. He received his PhD in astronomy from Columbia University in 2011 and joined the research staff of the GSFC Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory in 2017.