Normalized azimuthally averaged relative intensity profiles and contrast curve. The plain red curve shows the intensity profile of a typical saturated NACO L′ PSF (similar brightness and exposure time). The blue dashed curve shows the AGPM intensity profile before PCA, demonstrating the instantaneous contrast gain provided by the coronagraph at all spatial frequencies within the AO control radius (). The green dash-dot curve presents the reduced PCA-ADI 5σ detectability limits (40 frames, 800 s, ΔPA ≈ 30°), taking both the coronagraph off-axis transmission and the PCA-ADI flux losses into account.