Nulling Interferometry

Gene Serabyn
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The technique of nulling interferometry is based on the idea of placing a destructive interference fringe across the location of a bright point source, in order to be able to examine fainter emission from its environs. This promising technique thus has immediate application in the area of near-neighbor (planet) detection. While the experimental techniques are making great strides forward, one area which remains to be explored in full is the data reconstruction algorithms which will be needed. Specifically, because the phase relationships between different telescope apertures must be held fixed, the normal complex visibility cannot be measured in full, leading to the need for correlation-based analyses. This talk will describe both the experimental situation, and the resulting data which results.


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