Wide‐Field Interferometric Imaging: A Powerful Tool for the Terrestrial Planet Finder

We present a discussion of the design and construction of the Wide‐Field Imaging Interferometry Testbed (WIIT) at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The testbed is motivated by a need to develop techniques for wide‐field interferometric imaging in the optical/IR for future space missions such as TPF. Theoretically, using multipixel detectors for spatial multiplexing/mosaicing allows this, but there are a number of practical questions which WIIT will address. We present some initial data acquired with this system and demonstrate its capability to produce wide‐field interferometry data.