*** WELCOME TO THE UCSB EXOPLANET POLARIMETRY LAB HOMEPAGE ***Last updated: Oct 6, 2026NEWS · 2026-10-02: Recruiting a new graduate studentNEWS · 2026-10-02: Onward and upwardNEWS · 2026-08-25: First-light paper for the NIRC2 polarimeterNEWS · 2026-08-19: Dr. Rebecca ZhangNEWS · 2026-04-15: Postdoc Position at UC BerkeleyPlease sign our guestbook before you leave!Best viewed in Netscape Navigator 4.0 at 800x600 *** WELCOME TO THE UCSB EXOPLANET POLARIMETRY LAB HOMEPAGE ***Last updated: Oct 6, 2026NEWS · 2026-10-02: Recruiting a new graduate studentNEWS · 2026-10-02: Onward and upwardNEWS · 2026-08-25: First-light paper for the NIRC2 polarimeterNEWS · 2026-08-19: Dr. Rebecca ZhangNEWS · 2026-04-15: Postdoc Position at UC BerkeleyPlease sign our guestbook before you leave!Best viewed in Netscape Navigator 4.0 at 800x600

Millar-Blanchaer
Research Group

University of California, Santa Barbara

EXOPLANETS · POLARIMETRY · HIGH-CONTRAST IMAGING
ONLINE · BROIDA HALL, UCSB

Welcome to our Homepage!!!

We are the UCSB Exoplanet Polarimetry Lab: postdocs, graduate students and undergraduates in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, led by Max Millar-Blanchaer. We focus on exoplanet detection and characterization using high-contrast imaging and polarimetry, and we develop new instrumentation, observational techniques, and data analysis methods to push the boundaries of what we can learn about planets outside our solar system.

UPDATED!! COOL SITE OF THE DAY SCROLL DOWN RECRUITING NEW GRADS
The research group at the 2026 Spirit of Lyot conference << that's us >>

PHOTO ALBUM~/photos

An alignment camera image of a vortex metasurface in the SCALES instrument (from Deno Stelter)A good showing of the research group at the 2026 Spirit of Lyot Conference in PasadenaJWST image of the HD 141569A transition disk from Millar-Blanchaer et al. 2025Max and Rebecca at Keck II to install the NIRC2 polarimetry modeRebecca on the AO bench at Keck II working on the PCU2 stages to enable the NIRC2 polarimetry mode3D models of the solar system planets made by NSF AAPF Briley Lewis for outreach with blind and low vision people

ABOUT THE GROUP HOT~/about

Our research interests span directly imaged exoplanets, brown dwarfs and debris disks, and the instruments and software needed to study them: new polarimetric modes for Keck, Gemini, Subaru and Palomar, metasurface optics built in the UCSB Nanofab, the Roman Coronagraph pipeline, and JWST observations of disks. Students in the group work on everything from nanofabrication to telescope commissioning to GPU-accelerated disk modeling.

A note from the PI

Max Millar-Blanchaer My research is motivated by a desire to better understand our origins, through the study of planet formation and evolution, and to develop a better sense of our place in the universe, through the long-term search for Earth-like planets. In particular, I'm interested in the detection and characterization of directly imaged exoplanets, brown dwarfs and debris disks (extrasolar analogs to our own Kuiper and asteroid belts). My work involves a mix of instrumentation, observation and data analysis. Take a look around the website, and please get in touch if you see anything that interests you! Click here for a list of my first-author publications, or the ADS link for a full list.

MAX ON THE WEB: NASA ADS ADS GitHub ORCID ORCID CV (PDF) First-author papers

Science

Exoplanet & brown dwarf atmospheres in polarized light, and the morphology and composition of circumstellar disks.

Tell me more!

Instrumentation

GPI, WIRC+Pol, metasurface optics, polarization gratings, Keck NIRC2 polarimetry, and the Roman Coronagraph.

Tell me more!

The Group

Meet the postdocs, graduate students and undergraduates of the UCSB Exoplanet Polarimetry Lab.

Tell me more!

WHAT'S NEW NEW!news & travel

Oct 2, 2026 NEW!OPPORTUNITIES
I'll be recruiting a new grad student this year. I encourage anyone with an astronomy, physics and/or engineering degree to apply.
Oct 2, 2026 NEW!UPDATES
We send our best wishes to Rebecca, Ronald and Jaren at their new positions at UC Berkeley, JPL and JPL!
Aug 25, 2026 NEW!PUBLICATIONS
We recently submitted our first-light paper for the new NIRC2 polarimetry mode at Keck II, led by postdoc Briley Lewis: "NIRC2-Pol: First Light of Near-Infrared Polarimetry on Keck II".
Aug 19, 2026 NEW!UPDATES
A huge congratulations to Dr. Rebecca Zhang, who successfully defended her thesis today!
Apr 15, 2026UPDATES
Congratulations to Rebecca Zhang for accepting a postdoctoral position at UC Berkeley to start in Fall 2026!
Apr 13, 2026UPDATES
Congratulations to Skyler Palatnick for being awarded a 51 Peg b fellowship at UCLA to continue his work on metasurface optics!
Apr 12, 2026UPDATES
As part of the JWST ERS program, Max Millar-Blanchaer recently published a new paper, showing the first detection of water ice in the HD 141569A system. The observations showed an unexpected radial gradient in dust properties. The work was a huge team effort, so thanks to everyone involved!
Jan 9, 2026CONFERENCES & TRAVEL
Several members of the Millar-Blanchaer Lab (Postdocs Ronald Lopez and Briley Lewis, graduate student Connor Vancil, undergraduate Thomas McIntosh, REU student Logan Bennett) attended and presented at the 247th AAS meeting in Phoenix.

SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK SIGN IT!

Visiting from a conference, a classroom, or a web ring? Leave a note. (Entries are saved only in your own browser. It's 1998 and I don't have a CGI script.)

RECENT ENTRIES