AstroPIC: Integrated Photonic Coronagraph Hits 3.83×10⁻¹⁰ Extinction Ratio for Exoplanet Imaging
jwt0625 · x · 2026-10-23
jwt0625 highlights AstroPIC, an integrated photonic coronagraph being developed for the Habitable Worlds Observatory:
- The idea: implement a coronagraph for exoplanet discovery on a photonic integrated circuit. Grating couplers plus an MZI mesh enable arbitrary spatial mode mapping, putting the occulting disk on-chip.
- Figures show a nine-channel triangular MZI mesh testbed; a single-MZI voltage sweep reaches extinction ratios down to 10⁻⁸, and single-channel minimization on the 9-channel mesh achieves a final ER of 3.83×10⁻¹⁰ — a >90 dB dynamic range that, as the poster notes, few labs can even characterize without an OSA.
- Linked papers: Sirbu2026 (architecture, science-yield modeling, technology status) and Morgan2026 (high-contrast demonstrations). Poster jokes it's an OPA, so Taara could repurpose its OPA chip for exoplanet hunting.
Related event: AstroPIC Puts Exoplanet-Hunting Coronagraph on a Photonic Chip(2 posts)→
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