Volker Tolls @ Center for Astrophysics

CorECam addresses the main requirements and science program for the Terrestrial Planet Finder Coronagraph's (TPF-C) primary camera. CorECam interfaces with TPF-C's starlight suppression system (SSS) and provides modules for imaging in the visible and in the near-infrared. The design of CorECam is simple and efficient, providing a high optical through-put combined with high quantum efficiency detectors. The detectors are operating in photon counting mode to support long exposure times on low-flux targets and zero read noise. The visible filter set was choosen to optimize the detection and characterization of terrestrial planets. It includes a survey filter, F550W, two broad redder filters, F650W and F750W, for spectral slope detection, and several medium-width filters, F475M, F525M, F575M, and F675M, and narrow-width filters for in-depth characterization. Similarly, the infrared channels filter sets comprise of broad-, medium-, and narrow-width filters.

The principal investigator of the CorECam study is Dr. Mark Clampin, GSFC.

CorECam_schematic (155K)

Schematic of the CorECam optical design.

References:

Clampin, Mark; Lyon, Richard; Petro, Larry; Seager, Sara; Marley, Mark; Melnick, Gary; Weinberger, Alycia; Woodruff, Robert; Horner, Scott; Ford, Holland; Illingworth, Garth; Kasting, Jim; Lin, Doug; Kuchner, Marc; Shao, Mike; Sparks, William; Rauscher, Bernard; Tolls, Volker; and Carter, Ruth; "Coronagraphic Exploration Camera (CorECam);" Space Telescopes and Instrumentation I: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter. Edited by Mather, John C.; MacEwen, Howard A.; de Graauw, Mattheus W. M.. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 6265, pp. 62650O (2006)

NASA Navigator Program: TPF-C Mission