I graduated from the Magistère de Physique Fondamentale d'Orsay (Master's degree in Fundamental Physics) and am certified to teach Physics and Chemistry (with a focus on Physics). I completed my education with a Master's degree in Astrophysics. I am currently working on my thesis at LIRA (Paris Observatory), where my research focuses on the development of direct imaging of exoplanets for the coronagraphic instrument of the future Roman Space Telescope.
I began my adventure at Paris Observatory with my master's internship, studying Coherence Differential Imaging (CDI) for direct imaging of exoplanets at LIRA. The goal of the internship was to implement and study the CDI technique using codes developed by a LIRA team, in order to optimize it on data from numerical simulations of the VLT/SPHERE instrument and on an optical bench from Meudon: the THD2. This work aims to pave the way for a novel and innovative strategy to be deployed for the next survey of giant exoplanets by direct imaging with SPHERE+.
I am pursuing a PhD at Paris Observatory (2025–2028) working with Johan Mazoyer and Axel Potier on direct imaging with the Roman Space Telescope. The core objective of my thesis is to study and optimize innovative techniques, such as active correction (dark hole) and post-processing correction (Coherence Differential Imaging), applied to the Roman Space Telescope's coronagraph through numerical simulations and laboratory tests on the THD2 test bench. I work closely with several international teams on this project. This telescope will serve as a critical technology demonstrator for the future Habitable Worlds Observatory mission, which ultimately aims to image planets similar to our own Earth.
DIONNET, Z., DJOUADI, Z., DELAYE, L., et al. (2025). Methylene-to-methyl ratio variability in Ryugu samples: Clues to a heterogeneous aqueous alteration. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, vol. 60, no 2, p. 273-285. View publication
Conference Proceedings
DELAYE, L., LAGINJA, I., BAUDOZ, P., et al. (2026). Enhanced wavefront sensing for the Roman Coronagraph Instrument: Gaussian probes and compact model validation. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation. View proceeding
DIONNET, Z., DJOUADI, Z., BRUNETTO, R., [...], DELAYE, L., et al. (2024). Spatial heterogeneity of aliphatic compounds and their link with phyllosilicates as a result of aqueous alteration of Ryugu samples. 86th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society. View proceeding
Oral Presentations
DELAYE, L. (2026). The Roman Coronagraph Instrument: paving the technological path toward Earth-like exoplanet detection. Elbereth — Paris, France. View presentation
DELAYE, L. (2026). The Roman Space Telescope: preparing for the first image of another Earth (in French). Festival d'Astronomie de Fleurance — Fleurance, France. View presentation
Conference Posters
DELAYE, L., LAGINJA, I., POTIER, A., et al. (2026). Enhanced wavefront sensing for the Roman Coronagraph Instrument: Gaussian probes and compact model validation. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation. View poster
DELAYE, L., POTIER, A., GALICHER, R., et al. (2026). Simulated parametric study of coherent differential imaging for exoplanet detection with SPHERE. Spirit of Lyot 6. View poster
Other Works
WILKINSON, C., WEHRUNG-MONTPEZAT, J., CHARNAY, B., [...], DELAYE, L., et al. (2026). A semi-analytical surrogate model for giant planet evolution: bypassing ordinary differential equation solvers with localised thermodynamics, softplus asymptotes, and B-spline photometry. Astronomy & Astrophysics. View publication
LAU, A., RIGGS, A. J., REDMOND, S. F., [...], DELAYE, L., et al. (2026). Simulation tools for realistic high-order wavefront correction with the Roman Coronagraph. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation. View proceeding
MAZOYER, J., MELLADO-TENORIO, M. J., POTIER, A., [...], DELAYE, L., et al. (2026). Coherence differential imaging using gradient-boosted decision trees for the direct detection of exoplanets. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation. View proceeding
WILKINSON, C., CHARNAY, B., MAZEVET, S., [...], DELAYE, L., et al. (2026). Resolving core-envelope degeneracies in giant planets and sub-Neptunes: constraining the equivalence in the presence of dilute gradients. Astronomy & Astrophysics. View publication
Software & Observations
POR, E. H., LAGINJA, I., STEIGER, S., [...], DELAYE, L., et al. (2026). spacetelescope/catkit2: v0.7.0. Zenodo, Research protocol or technique. View work
BIRTWHISTLE, P., PETTARIN, E., GREEN, D. W. E., [...], DELAYE, L., et al. (2026). Comet C/2026 m3 (master). Minor Planet Electronic Circulars, Research tool. View work
.gif)
