SAMOP 2023 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 62: Precision Measurements: Gravity II
Q 62.4: Talk
Friday, March 10, 2023, 11:45–12:00, E214
The Hannover Torsion Balance - a test platform for novel inertial sensing concepts — •Christoph Gentemann1, 2, Gerald Bergmann2, 1, Carolin Cordes1, 2, Gerhard Heinzel2, 1, Moritz Mehmet2, 1, and Karsten Danzmann2, 1 — 1Leibniz Universität Hannover — 2Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
Current satellite geodesy missions such as GRACE Follow-On are limited at low frequencies by the noise of their accelerometers. These sensors measure non-gravitational accelerations with free-floating test masses in a capacitive housing through capacitance changes. To test new and more sensitive accelerometer designs a setup is desirable that simulates the force-free environment of space in the laboratory.
Suitably designed torsion pendulums can provide such a test bed, since their rotational motion can be designed to have a low resonance frequency and therefore behave approximately force-free in one dimension above said frequency.
In this talk I will present the Hannover Torsion Balance (HTB), which aims at providing a high precision test platform to investigate new optical readout techniques for test mass motion such as deep frequency modulation interferometry. The current status, including test mass sensing and control, will be discussed. In our laboratory these two things are currently based on electrostatic readout and feedback, to provide a sensible comparison with the space-based accelerometers.
Future upgrades to laser interferometric readout of the sensitive degree of freedom will also be discussed.