Cancellation of star light generated by a nearby star-planet system upon detection with a rotationally-shearing interferometer

We derive the analytical expression for the star-planet incidence detected with a (variable angle) rotationally-shearing interferometer, with the abse nce of star-related quantities. The rotationally-shearing interferometer de tects only the tilted wave front incident from a planet. The partial polari zation of two rotated beams diminishes the signal amplitude by a factor pro portional to the cosine-square of the shearing angle. The polarization cons iderations favor the small-angle implementation of the rotationally-shearin g interferometer. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.