Cascade adaptive optics with a second stage based on a Zernike wavefront sensor for exoplanet observations

Context. Over the past decade, the high-contrast observation of disks and gas giant planets around nearby stars has been made possible with ground-based instruments using extreme adaptive optics (XAO). These facilities produce images with a Strehl ratio higher than 90% in the H band, in median observing conditions and high-flux regime. However, the correction leaves behind adaptive optics (AO) residuals, which impede studies of fainter or less massive exoplanets. Aims. Cascade AO systems with a fast second stage based on a Pyramid wavefront sensor (PWFS) have recently emerged as an appealing solution to reduce the atmospheric wavefront errors. Since these phase aberrations are expected to be small, they can also be accurately measured by a Zernike wavefront sensor (ZWFS), a well-known concept for its high sensitivity and moderate linear capture range. We propose an alternative second stage that relies on the ZWFS to correct for the AO residuals. Methods. We implemented the cascade AO with a ZWFS-based control loop on the ESO’s GPU-based High-order adaptive OpticS Testbench (GHOST) to validate the scheme in monochromatic light. We emulated the XAO first stage in different observing conditions (wind speed, seeing) and determined the corresponding operation parameters (e.g., number of controlled modes, integrator gain, loop calibration) that lead to stable loop operation and good correction performance. Our strategy was assessed in terms of corrected wavefront errors and contrast gain in the images with a Lyot coronagraph to probe its efficiency. Results. In median wind speed and seeing, our second-stage AO with a ZWFS and a basic integrator was able to reduce the atmospheric residuals by a factor of 6 and increase the wavefront error stability with a gain of 2 between open and closed loop. In the presence of non-common path aberrations, we also achieved a contrast gain of a factor of 2 in the coronagraphic images at short separations from the source, proving the ability of our scheme to work in cascade with an XAO loop. In addition, it may prove useful for imaging fainter or lighter close-in companions. In more challenging conditions, contrast improvements are also achieved by adjusting the control loop features. Conclusions. Our study validates the ZWFS-based second-stage AO loop as an effective solution to address small residuals left over from a single-stage XAO system for the coronagraphic observations of circumstellar environments. Our first in-lab demonstration paves the way for more advanced versions of our approach with different temporal control laws, non-linear reconstructors, and spectral widths. This would allow our approach to operate in high-contrast facilities on the current 8–10 m class telescopes and Extremely Large Telescopes to observe exoplanets, all the way down to Earth analogs around M dwarfs.