Context : The new planet finder for the Very Large Telescope ( VLT ) , the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch ( SPHERE ) , just had its first light in Paranal .
A dedicated instrument for the direct detection of planets , SPHERE , is composed of a polametric camera in visible light , the Zurich IMager POLarimeter ( ZIMPOL ) , and two near-infrared sub-systems : the Infra-Red Dual-beam Imager and Spectrograph ( IRDIS ) , a multi-purpose camera for imaging , polarimetry , and long-slit spectroscopy , and the integral field spectrograph ( IFS ) , an integral field spectrograph .

Aims : We present the results obtained from the analysis of data taken during the laboratory integration and validation phase , after the injection of synthetic planets .
Since no continuous field rotation could be performed in the laboratory , this analysis presents results obtained using reduction techniques that do not use the angular differential imaging ( ADI ) technique .

Methods : To perform the simulations , we used the instrumental point spread function ( PSF ) and model spectra of L and T-type objects scaled in contrast with respect to the host star .
We evaluated the expected error in astrometry and photometry as a function of the signal to noise of companions , after spectral differential imaging ( SDI ) reduction for IRDIS and spectral deconvolution ( SD ) or principal component analysis ( PCA ) data reductions for IFS .

Results : We deduced from our analysis , for example , that \beta Picb , a 12 Myr old planet of \sim 10 M _ { \mathrm { Jup } } and semi-major axis of 9–10 AU , would be detected with IRDIS with a photometric error of 0.16 mag and with a relative astrometric position error of 1.1 mas .
With IFS , we could retrieve a spectrum with error bars of about 0.15 mag on each channel and astrometric relative position error of 0.6 mas .
For a fainter object such as HR 8799d , a 13 M _ { \mathrm { Jup } } planet at a distance of 27 AU , IRDIS could obtain a relative astrometric error of 3 mas .

Conclusions :