Contrast in the coronagraphic images with the ZWFS-based wavefront control. Top: left and right, frames in log scale before and after closing the ZWFS control loop. The AO residuals based on VLT/SPHERE characteristics with a 6-mag natural guide star and median observing conditions with 10 m s⁻¹ wind speed and 0.7″ seeing. In closed loop, the ZWFS-based second-stage AO controls 350 KL modes and runs with an integrator using a gain of 0.8. Middle: normalized azimuthal averaged intensity profile of the coronagraphic images produced in open loop (blue dashed line), in closed loop (orange solid line) and in the absence of XAO residuals (black dotted line) as a function of the angular separation. The grey area with dashed lined delimits the projected FPM size. Bottom: contrast gain provided by the ZWFS- based wavefront control between the open and closed loop operations.