Broadband characterization of anti-reflection coated starshade optical edges for solar glint control

Dylan McKeithen; Stuart Shaklan; Stefan Martin; Eric Lowe; David Sheikh

doi:10.1117/12.2563103

15 December 2020 Broadband characterization of anti-reflection coated starshade optical edges for solar glint control

Dylan McKeithen, Stuart Shaklan, Stefan Martin, Eric Lowe, David Sheikh

Proceedings Volume 11443, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 114436A (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2563103
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Conference Poster

Abstract

A starshade is a large flower-shaped screen designed to enable the direct imaging of exoplanets with a space telescope. The starshade perimeter is composed of sharp, precisely shaped edges to minimize the glint of sunlight into the telescope. Past work has focused on bare edges to minimize the terminal radius. This paper describes the broadband, wide-angle performance of edges coated with a thin multi-layer anti-reflection coating. This coating uses a combination of interference and absorption to reduce the surface reflectivity and to avoid the negative effects associated with a large cross-sectional area. A custom scattered light testbed has been developed to quantify the amount of light scattered from sample edges and to validate Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) models of the optical scatter. We show that optical edge samples with this coating significantly reduce the solar glint pattern compared to similar uncoated optical edges.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Dylan McKeithen, Stuart Shaklan, Stefan Martin, Eric Lowe, and David Sheikh "Broadband characterization of anti-reflection coated starshade optical edges for solar glint control", Proc. SPIE 11443, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 114436A (15 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2563103

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