The Gemini Planet Imager
The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high-contrast imager at the Gemini South telescope that an combines an extreme adaptive optics system, a coronagraph and an integral field spectrograph/polarimeter in order to directly image exoplanets. I have worked extensively on GPI's polarimetry mode since about 2011, characterizing its performance (both in-lab and on-sky), developing data reduction proceedures and using it for science.
Recently I demonstrated that GPI is sensitive to the polarization aberrations of the Gemini South telescope.
In the top row we see a model of GPI's coronagraph and in the bottom row we see on-sky data. In the Q and U panels we see that the on-sky (at least qualitatively) match the model predictions.
Here's a quick list of GPI papers I've written either characterizing GPI's polarimetry mode or using it for science:
- The polarization aberrations of the Gemini Telescope as seen by the Gemini Planet Imager
- Imaging an 80 au Radius Dust Ring around the F5V Star HD 157587
- GPI observational calibrations XIV: polarimetric contrasts and new data reduction techniques
- Beta Pictoris' Inner Disk in Polarized Light and New Orbital Parameters for Beta Pictoris b
- Polarization gratings for visible and near-infrared astronomy