A hardware demonstration of low order wavefront sensing and control in HWO exoplanet imaging

We describe a NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology initiative for development of a new optical wavefront control element for the active correction of low-order wavefront errors expected for HWO telescope line-of- sight jitter, thermal gradients, and alignment drift. In concert with a high-contrast laboratory coronagraph and Zernike wavefront sensor in a vacuum environment, this hardware demonstrates the separation of active low-order and stable high-order wavefront control.