Oral title: NEAR - an imaging search for low-mass planets in Alpha Cen

Oral abstract: ESO in collaboration with the Breakthrough Initiatives plans to upgrade the VLT mid-IR imager VISIR to 
greatly enhance its ability to search for potentially habitable planets around both components of the binary Alpha Centauri, 
part of the closest stellar system to the Earth. The upgrade combines Adaptive Optics using the deformable secondary 
mirror at UT4, a new AGPM coronagraph optimized for the most sensitive spectral bandpass in the N-band, and a novel 
chopper system for noise filtering based on the "Dicke switch" used by the micro-wave pioneers. The VISIR experiment is 
also relevant for the future E-ELT METIS instrument. We will present science requirements, concept and performance 
analysis for the VISIR experiment and provide an outlook on prospects of observing and characterising potentially 
habitable planets around the nearest stars with E-ELT.