Thesis defense of Nelly CERPA

Thesis defense of Nelly CERPA, PhD student in the Imaging and Information group, on 15 November 2022 at 2pm, by videoconference, on the topic: "Advanced Control Laws for Exoplanet Imaging with Adaptive Optics."

Abstract: "Imaging exoplanets is both a technological and scientific challenge. Ground-based telescope instrumentation must produce high-contrast images in the vicinity of bright stars, while appropriate observational techniques must be implemented to detect exoplanets. This demanding scientific objective is made possible by extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems (XAO), which are capable of correcting image distortion due to turbulence in real time and are already operational on very large telescopes. However, the imaging of companions very close to their host star and/or of extremely low intensity requires a better real-time correction to allow, for example, to reach the contrast necessary for the direct imaging of a small exoplanet. The simulations performed in this thesis show that an XAO system composed of two cascaded AO systems puts this within our reach."