LOCI optimization grid for a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 6 pixels overlaid on the 1.75 μm PSF-subtracted image of HD 135344B (09-05-2007). The frame is 512  ×  512 data pixels (13.27 mas/pixel) and the diameter of the inner circle is  ~52 pixels. The FWHM input used in the LOCI pipeline was adjusted to the average FWHM of the data for each target (for most of the data FWHM = 6 pixels and for some FWHM = 9 and 10 pixels). The relevant input parameters for LOCI are not the exact annulus sizes but the surface area of the ring subsections A (see explanation in Sect. 2.2), which in our case corresponds to 70 times the PSF area. The algorithm adjusts the ring sizes to match this area condition (70 PFS cores/segment) and consequently the ring sizes change slightly for different FWHMs and for different radial positions (because the farther out, the more segments).