title: Fabrication of petal-shaped masks for suppression of the on-axis Poisson spot in telescope systems.
abstract: The presence of a bright (Poisson) spot in the geometrical shadow of circular/spherical shapes has been known for the past two centuries. A broad class of telescopes that involve simultaneous transmit and receive require suppression of the reflected light from the secondary mirror on the detector. For instance, the on-axis design of optical telescope for the evolved Laser Interferometric Space Antenna (eLISA), a re-scoped version of the baseline LISA mission concept, requires suppression of reflected laser light from the secondary mirror on the detector. In the past few years, the hypergaussian functions with petal-shaped realization have been shown to significantly suppress intensity along the optical axis. This work reports on fabrication of a series of petal-shaped masks using a variety of techniques such as 3D printing, photolithography, and wire Electro Discharge Machining. These masks are designed and fabricated to operate in the range of Fresnel numbers between 4 and 120. This paper discusses the challenges, successes, and failures of each fabrication technique and the optical performance of typical masks with suggestions for potential follow up work.
authors.affiliation: Optics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shiri
authors.affiliation: Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.affiliation: Optics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Kaitlin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Optics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hagopian
authors.affiliation: Optics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Shirin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salari
authors.affiliation: Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sankar
authors.affiliation: Optics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hagopian
authors.affiliation: Advanced Manufacturing Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Showalter
authors.affiliation: Detector Systems Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stevenson
authors.affiliation: Optics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Quijada
authors.affiliation: Optics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Threat
authors.affiliation: Astrophysics Science Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Friedlander
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dillon
authors.affiliation: Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Livas