Multistar wavefront control: vacuum laboratory demonstrations of exoplanet imaging in multistar systems for space missions

This paper presents the latest progress in the technology development and laboratory demonstrations of MultiStar Wavefront Control (MSWC), a method designed to enable missions like Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory to detect planets around binary (and higher order) star systems. Our tests used the Occulting Mask Coronagraph (OMC) in JPL's High Contrast Imaging Testbed (HCIT) in vacuum. New results this year include a demonstration with a physical binary star source, and using a wavelength band corresponding to one of the filter bands available on Roman (band "3D", which has a 1% bandwidth around 754nm). Our new results include 3e-9 contrast (normalized intensity) in Super-Nyquist Wavefront Control mode, and 9.4e-8 in full MSWC mode for an example of α Cen AB separation with equal star brightness. For brightness differences of α Cen AB, our results are equivalent to a contrast of 3.7e-8 around star A and 1.8e-7 for planets around star B. Although deeper contrasts are expected with further work, these contrasts may already be sufficient to detect planets around aCen A in reflected light, such as the planet candidate recently detected with JWST.