Calibration of quasi-static aberrations in exoplanet direct-imaging instruments with a Zernike phase-mask sensor. IV. Temporal stability of non-common path aberrations in VLT/SPHERE

TL;DR

This study uses a Zernike wavefront sensor to analyze the temporal stability of non-common path aberrations in VLT/SPHERE, revealing two distinct decorrelation regimes affecting high-contrast exoplanet imaging performance.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed characterization of NCPA stability over time in VLT/SPHERE, identifying two decorrelation regimes and their impact on imaging quality.

Findings

Fast internal turbulence causes rapid NCPA decorrelation within seconds.

Slow linear NCPA decorrelation occurs over minutes to hours.

Internal turbulence dominates the impact on image differences.

Abstract

Coronagraphic imaging of exoplanets using ground-based instruments on large telescopes is intrinsically limited by speckles induced by uncorrected aberrations. These aberrations originate from the imperfect correction of the atmosphere by an extreme adaptive optics system; from static optical defects; or from small opto-mechanical variations due to changes in temperature, pressure, or gravity vector. More than the speckles themselves, the performance of high-contrast imagers is ultimately limited by their temporal stability, since most post-processing techniques rely on difference of images acquired at different points in time. Identifying the origin of the aberrations and the timescales involved is therefore crucial to understanding the fundamental limits of dedicated high-contrast instruments. We previously demonstrated the use of a Zernike wavefront sensor called ZELDA for sensing non-common path aberrations (NCPA) in VLT/SPHERE. We now use ZELDA to investigate the stability of the instrumental aberrations using 5 long sequences of measurements obtained at high cadence on the internal source. Our study reveals two regimes of decorrelation of the NCPA. The first, with a characteristic timescale of a few seconds and an amplitude of a few nanometers, is induced by a fast internal turbulence within the enclosure. The second is a slow quasi-linear decorrelation on the order of a few $10^{-3}$ nm rms/s that acts on timescales from minutes to hours. We use coronagraphic image reconstruction to demonstrate that these two NCPA contributions have a measurable impact on differences of images, and that the fast internal turbulence is a dominating term over to the slow linear decorrelation. We also use dedicated sequences where the derotator and atmospheric dispersion compensators emulate a real observation to demonstrate the importance of performing observations symmetric around the meridian.