  The technological progress in spatial-light modulators (SLM) technology has
made it possible to use those devices as programmable active focal-plane phase
coronagraphic masks, opening the door to novel versatile and adaptive
high-contrast imaging observation strategies. However, the scalar nature of the
SLM-induced phase response is a potential hurdle when applying the approach to
wideband light, as is typical in astronomical imaging. For the first time, we
present laboratory results with broadband light (up to ~12pc bandwidth) for two
commercially-available SLM devices used as active focal-plane phase masks in
the visible regime (640 nm). It is shown that under ideal or realistic
telescope aperture conditions, the contrast performance is negligibly affected
in this bandwidth regime, reaching sufficient level for ground-based
high-contrast imaging, which is typically dominated by atmospheric residuals.

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics;Optics