Thayne Currie (NAOJ/Subaru Telescope)

Title: "The Design, Early Direct Imaging Science, and Future Developments with SCExAO" Abstract: SCExAO is an extreme adaptive optics system recently commissioned and available for open use on the 8.2m Subaru Telescope on Maunakea. In this brief talk, I summarize the architecture of SCExAO (wavefront control, coronagraphy) and science instruments currently in use and planned for use in the near future. SCExAO's first science results reveal high contrast imaging capabilities roughly comparable to that from the Gemini Planet Imager at first light, newly resolved debris disks, simultaneous JHK spectra of benchmark planetary companions, and new candidate companions. SCExAO is an evolving platform. Its current/upcoming developments in wavefront sensing and coronagraphy could allow it to yield the first direct images of planets in reflected light and will pave the way for high-contrast imaging of mature, low-mass planets with WFIRST-CGI and the Thirty Meter Telescope.