Polarization effects on high contrast imaging: measurements on THD2 Bench

TL;DR

This paper investigates polarization effects, specifically Goos-H"anchen and Imbert-Fedorov shifts, on a high-contrast imaging test bench, highlighting their impact on system performance and measurement techniques.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement and analysis of polarization-induced beam shifts on a high-contrast imaging test bench, linking theoretical effects to practical implications.

Findings

Measured polarization-induced beam shifts match theoretical predictions.

Identified key optical components contributing to polarization aberrations.

Provided a protocol for quantifying polarization effects in high-contrast systems.

Abstract

The spectroscopic study of mature giant planets and low mass planets (Neptune-like, Earth-like) requires instruments capable of achieving very high contrasts ($10^{-10}-10^{-11}$) at short angular separations. To achieve such high performance on a real instrument, many limitations must be overcome: complex component defects (coronagraph, deformable mirror), optical aberrations and scattering, mechanical vibrations and drifts, polarization effects, etc. To study the overall impact on a complete system representative of high contrast instruments, we have developed a test bench at Paris Observatory, called THD2. In this paper, we focus on the polarization effects that are present on the bench which creates differential aberrations between the two linear polarization states. We compare the recorded beam positions of the two polarization states with the predicted from the Goos-H\"anchen and Imbert-Fedorov effects, both of which cause spatial shifts and angular deviations of the beam, longitudinal and transverse respectively. Although these effects have already been studied in the literature from the optical and quantum mechanical points of view, their measurement and impact on a complete optical bench are rather rare, although they are crucial for high-contrast instruments. After describing the Goos-H\"anchen and Imbert-Fedorov effects and estimating their amplitude on the THD2 bench, we present the protocol we used to measure these effects of polarization on the light beam. We compare predictions and measurements and we conclude on the most limiting elements on our bench polarization-wise.