Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 42: Präzisionsmessungen II

Q 42.5: Talk

Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 15:00–15:15, 5K

LISA Pathfinder Interferometry: hardware simulation towards on-orbit operation — •Felipe Guzman Cervantes, Frank Steier, Antonio Garcia Marin, Vinzenz Wand, Gerhard Heinzel, and Karsten Danzmann — Albert-Einstein-Institut Hannover

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a joint ESA-NASA mission for the first space-borne gravitational wave detector, operating in the measurement band from 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz. LISA consists of three identical spacecraft separated by 5 million kilometers, flying a total of six proof masses in heliocentric drag-free orbits. The relative changes in the separation between two test masses located in different satellites will be measured by laser interferometry with picometer precision. Due to the challenges LISA yields, the ESA technology demonstration mission LISA Pathfinder is planned to be launched in 2009. LISA Pathfinder aims to test core LISA technologies that cannot be tested on ground such as test mass drag-free control and isolation and spacecraft control. A set of 4 heterodyne Mach-Zehnder interferometers is utilized for the read out of test mass displacement and rotation to better than 10 pm/sqrt(Hz) and 10 nrad/sqrt(Hz)in the frequency range from 3-30 mHz respectively. This talk presents the current status in the development of the LISA Pathfinder interferometer and a series of tests conducted as a hardware simulation of the LISA Pathfinder on-orbit operation.