Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nulling Interferometry

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

  • 25 Accesses

Synonyms

Dark fringe interferometry

Definition

Nulling interferometry is the name given to an instrumental technique based on interferences between several telescopes and aiming at detecting directly exoplanets. The principle is to create a virtual “blind spot” at the exact location of a bright source, a star, in order to reveal the much fainter source, which is a planet orbiting it.

Overview

This technique is a variant of coronagraphyand aims at reducing the extreme contrast of intensity that may exist between two objects very close one to the other, as a star-planet system, but here the solution lies in the interferometric recombination of radiation from several telescopes. Coronagraphy is used primarily in the visible and near infrared: the angular resolution of a large telescope of say 10 meter diameter corrected by adaptive optics is indeed ten times better than the angle subtended by a planetary orbit of 1 AU at a distance of 10 pc; however, the star-planet contrast is...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Further Reading

  • Angel JRP, Woolf NJ (1997) An imaging nulling interferometer to study extrasolar planets. Astrophys J 475:373–379

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Bracewell RN (1978) Detecting nonsolar planets by spinning infrared interferometer. Nature 274:780–781

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Bracewell RN, MacPhie RH (1979) Searching for nonsolar planets. Icarus 38(1):136–147

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Cockell CS, Herbst T, Léger A (2008) Darwin, an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets. Exp Astron 46

    Google Scholar 

  • Defrère D, Absil O, Coudé du Foresto V, Danchi WC, den Hartog R (2008) Nulling interferometry: performance comparison between space and ground-based sites for exozodiacal disc detection. Astron Astrophys 490:435

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Lay OP (2004) Systematic errors in nulling interferometers. Appl Opt 43(33):6100–6123

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Léger A, Mariotti JM, Mennesson B et al (1996) Icarus 123:249

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ollivier M (2007) Towards the spectroscopic analysis of earthlike planets: the DARWIN/TPF project. C R Phys 8(3–4):408–414

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Peters R, Lay O, Lawson P (2010) Mid-infrared adaptive nulling for the detection of earthlike exoplanets. Publ Astron Soc Pac 122(887):85–92

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Rouan D (2007) Ultra deep nulling interferometry using fractal interferometers. C R Phys 8(3–4):415–425

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Rouan D, Pelat D (2008) The achromatic chessboard, a new concept of a phase shifter for nulling interferometry. I Theory Astron Astrophys 484:581

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Serabyn E (2000) Nulling interferometry: symmetry requirements and experimental results. In: Léna P, Quirrenbach A (eds) Interferometry in optical astronomy, Proceeding of SPIE, vol 4006, pp 328–339

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LESIA, Observatoire Paris-Site de Meudon, Meudon, France

    Daniel Rouan

Authors
  1. Daniel Rouan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Rouan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, Pessac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  2. Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

    William M. Irvine

  3. Centro Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Univ. Autónoma de Madrid Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  4. Analytical-, Environm., Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB, Brussels, Belgium

    Philippe Claeys

  5. Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, WASHINGTON, DC, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  6. Radio Astronomy, Paris Observatory, Paris, France

    Maryvonne Gerin

  7. Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, Meudon, France

    Daniel Rouan

  8. International Space Science Institute, Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Tilman Spohn

  9. Centre Francois Viète, Universite de Nantes, Nantes, France

    Stéphane Tirard

  10. Innovaxiom, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Rouan, D. (2022). Nulling Interferometry. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1088-3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1088-3

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Nulling Interferometry
    Published:
    30 March 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1088-3

  2. Original

    Nulling Interferometry
    Published:
    02 May 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_1088-2

Search

Navigation