{
  "abstract": "Implicit electric field conjugation (iEFC) is an efficient, model-free wavefront control technique for dark hole creation. Its model-free nature, relying on calibration with real data rather than a synthetic model of the instrument, makes it uniquely versatile and highly attractive. It has been successfully demonstrated in a variety of environments, both in the laboratory and on-sky, using different experimental platforms and coronagraphs. A common characteristic of these demonstrations is that the resulting DHs exhibit moderate to large inner working angles and wide fields of view, often extending over several tens of $λ/D$. Here, we report the first demonstration of iEFC at small angular separations, achieving a DH spanning 1 to 4 $λ/D$ on a segmented pupil in H-band under laboratory conditions. This combination of aggressive IWA and reduced FoV highlights the uniqueness of the SPEED facility (segmented pupil experiment for exoplanet detection). SPEED is a high-contrast imaging testbed designed for extremely large telescopes (ELTs), developed in the context of the ELT/PCS instrument (planetary camera and spectrograph), currently in pre-phase A. Its small-IWA coronagraph, an APCMC (apodized pupil complex mask coronagraph), and its multi- and out-of-pupil-plane deformable mirror (DM) architecture are specifically optimized for DHs at very small IWAs, down to the diffraction limit. Our results demonstrate (i) that widely separated out-of-pupil DMs are well suited to generating DHs with IWAs down to 1 $λ/D$, and (ii) the effectiveness of iEFC, when combined with the SPEED wavefront control architecture, for high-contrast imaging with segmented telescopes. Ultimately, these results pave the way toward meeting the stringent high-contrast requirements of ELT-class instruments, opening new opportunities for exoplanet detection at unprecedented angular resolutions.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Proc. SPIE 14150, Adaptive Optics Systems X, 141504I (2026)",
  "arxiv": "2609.37120",
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Charles Sallard"
    },
    {
      "name": "Patrice Martinez"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alain Spang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kian Milani"
    },
    {
      "name": "Lyu Abe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mathilde Beaulieu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Carole Gouvret"
    },
    {
      "name": "Aurélie Marcotto"
    },
    {
      "name": "Julien Dejonghe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Olivier Preis"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a6txdavs8v6hj.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.37120",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "a6txdavs8v6hj",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37120",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.IM"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.37120",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a6txdavs8v6hj.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:25:31Z",
      "native_id": "2609.37120",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37120"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.IM",
      "subfield": "instrumentation-methods"
    }
  ],
  "title": "First laboratory demonstration of iEFC for high-contrast imaging at small angular separation on ELT scales",
  "title_text": "First laboratory demonstration of iEFC for high-contrast imaging at small angular separation on ELT scales",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:25:31Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/a6txdavs8v6hj",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1117/12.3102891",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": null,
      "venue": null
    }
  ]
}