Until now, just a few extrasolar planets (30 out of 860) have been found through the direct imaging method. This number should greatly improve when the next generation of High Contrast Instruments like Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) at Gemini South Telescope or SPHERE at VLT will became operative at the end of this year. In particular, the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS), one of the SPHERE subsystems, should allow a first characterization of the spectral type of the found extrasolar planets. Here we present the results of the last performance tests that we have done on the IFS instrument at the Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) in condition as similar as possible to the ones that we will find at the telescope. We have found that we should be able to reach contrast down to 5 × 10−7 and make astrometry at sub-mas level with the instrument in the actual conditions. A number of critical issues have been identified. The resolution of these problems could allow to further improve the performance of the instrument.

Next year the second generation instrument SPHERE will begin science operations at the Very Large Telecope (ESO). This instrument will be dedicated to the search for exoplanets through the direct imaging techniques, with the new generation extreme adaptive optics. In this poster, we present the performances of one of the focal instruments, the Infra-Red Dual-beam Imaging and Spectroscopy (IRDIS). All the results have been obtained with tests in laboratory, simulating the observing conditions in Paranal. We tested several configurations using the sub-system Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) in parallel and simulating long coronographic exposures on a star, calibrating instrumental ghosts, checking the performance of the adaptive optics system and reducing data with the consortium pipeline. The contrast one can reach with IRDIS is of the order of 10−6 at 0.5 arcsec separation from the central star.

Neuhäuser et al. (2005a) presented evidence for a sub-stellar, common proper motion companion to GQ Lup, which is almost certainly a planet imaged directly, based on two independent mass estimates by means of theoretical models. The magnitude of GQ Lup b was determined by relative photometry compared to GQ Lup A. During a one-month monitoring of the primary star, we found is to be a variable with K= 6.9 to 7.3 mag (absolute photometry). Then, we re-observed GQ Lup A+b in May 2005, again with VLT/NACO. Due to the monitoring in April 2005, we could predict the exact K-band magnitude range of the primary during the new AO observation. Hence, we could determine a more precise error of the K-band magnitude of GQ Lup b by relative photometry compared to the primary. The new value is consistent with the previous estimate within the error margin, so that also the conclusions in Neuhäuser et al. (2005a,b) about its very low mass remain valid.