Un coronographe interférentiel achromatique coaxial

We present a new type of stellar interfero-coronagraph, the ‘CIAXE’, which is a variant of the ‘AIC’, the Achromatic Interfero-Coronagraph. The CIAXE is characterized by a very simple, compact and fully coaxial optical combination. Indeed, contrarily to the classical AIC which has a Michelson interferometer structure, the CIAXE delivers its output beam on the same axis as the input beam. This will ease its insertion in the focal instrumentation of existing telescopes or next generation ones. Such a device could be a step forward in the field of instrumental search for exoplanets. To cite this article: J. Gay et al., C. R. Physique 6 (2005).