Optical properties of the solar gravity lens

Abstract

Abstract It is well known that the solar gravitational field can be considered as a telescope with a prime focus at locations beyond 550 au. In this work, we present a new derivation of the wave-optical properties of the system by adapting the arrival-time formalism from gravitational lensing. At the diffraction limit, the angular resolution is similar to that of a notional telescope with the diameter of the Sun, and the maximum light amplification is 8π4GM⊙/(c2λ), enough to detect a $1\,$W laser on Proxima Centauri b pointed in the general direction of the Sun. Extended sources, however, would be blurred by the wings of the point spread function into the geometrical-optics regime of gravitational lensing. Broad-band sources would have to further contend with the solar corona. Imaging an exoplanet surface as advocated in the literature, without attempting to reach the diffraction limit, appears achievable. For diffraction-limited imaging (sub-km scales from 100 pc), nearby neutron stars appear to be most plausible targets.