Optical Verification Experiments of Sub-scale Starshades

TL;DR

This paper reports on optical experiments with sub-scale starshades demonstrating high contrast starlight suppression, validating diffraction models, and confirming the feasibility of starshades for detecting Earth-like exoplanets.

Contribution

It presents the first high-contrast optical experiments of sub-scale starshades at a flight-like Fresnel number, validating diffraction models and addressing optical design challenges.

Findings

Achieved 1e-10 contrast at the inner working angle across 10% of the visible spectrum.

Validated diffraction models with better than 35% accuracy.

Identified deviations from scalar diffraction theory due to narrow gaps between petals.

Abstract

Starshades are a leading technology to enable the detection and spectroscopic characterization of Earth-like exoplanets. In this paper we report on optical experiments of sub-scale starshades that advance critical starlight suppression technologies in preparation for the next generation of space telescopes. These experiments were conducted at the Princeton starshade testbed, an 80 m long enclosure testing 1/1000th scale starshades at a flight-like Fresnel number. We demonstrate 1e-10 contrast at the starshade's geometric inner working angle across 10% of the visible spectrum, with an average contrast at the inner working angle of 2.0e-10 and contrast floor of 2e-11. In addition to these high contrast demonstrations, we validate diffraction models to better than 35% accuracy through tests of intentionally flawed starshades. Overall, this suite of experiments reveals a deviation from scalar diffraction theory due to light propagating through narrow gaps between the starshade petals. We provide a model that accurately captures this effect at contrast levels below 1e-10. The results of these experiments demonstrate that there are no optical impediments to building a starshade that provides sufficient contrast to detect Earth-like exoplanets. This work also sets an upper limit on the effect of unknowns in the diffraction model used to predict starshade performance and set tolerances on the starshade manufacture.