Externally Occulted Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph: Simulations and Sensitivities
Richard G. Lyon, Sally Heap, Amy Lo, Webster Cash, Glenn D. Starkman,, Robert J. Vanderbei, N. Jeremy Kasdin, Craig J. Copi

TL;DR
This paper explores the design, simulation, and sensitivity analysis of external starshade occulters for space-based detection of exoplanets, highlighting their advantages over internal coronagraphs in terms of optical requirements and resolution.
Contribution
It introduces optimized starshade shapes, compares their performance with traditional coronagraphs, and assesses sensitivity to shape errors, spectral bandwidth, and aperture configurations.
Findings
Starshade designs can achieve smaller inner working angles.
External occulters relax optical precision requirements.
Sensitivity analysis guides robust starshade implementation.
Abstract
A multitude of coronagraphic techniques for the space-based direct detection and characterization of exo-solar terrestrial planets are actively being pursued by the astronomical community. Typical coronagraphs have internal shaped focal plane and/or pupil plane occulting masks which block and/or diffract starlight thereby increasing the planet's contrast with respect to its parent star. Past studies have shown that any internal technique is limited by the ability to sense and control amplitude, phase (wavefront) and polarization to exquisite levels - necessitating stressing optical requirements. An alternative and promising technique is to place a starshade, i.e. external occulter, at some distance in front of the telescope. This starshade suppresses most of the starlight before entering the telescope - relaxing optical requirements to that of a more conventional telescope. While an old…
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