[en] We present a compact diagnostic breadboard that is based on an optical ring resonator for measuring beam quality and pointing of single-frequency continuous wave lasers at a wavelength of 1064 nm. To determine the beam quality of the coherent test beam, this optical resonator is used to perform a mode decomposition into Hermite-Gaussian modes. For our laser system, a power fraction in the fundamental Gaussian mode of 97.2%±0.2% was measured. Residual misalignment and mis-mode-matching to the resonator as well as the astigmatism and/or ellipticity of the test beam have been determined. Numerical simulations showed that measurements of the M² factor and transversal intensity distribution are not suitable for determining this power fraction. To measure the beam pointing, the fundamental mode of the optical resonator was used as a stable reference. The pointing of the test beam was measured with the differential wave front sensing technique up to Fourier frequencies of 1 kHz with a sensitivity to relative pointing of vertical bar ε vertical bar=1x10^-6/√(Hz). Pointing measurements with an alternative method were performed and showed good agreement

[en] The existence of gravitational radiation is a prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Gravitational waves are perturbations in the curvature of spacetime caused by accelerated masses. Since the 1960s gravitational wave detectors have been built and constantly improved. The present-day generation of resonant mass antennas and laser interferometers has reached the necessary sensitivity to detect gravitational waves from sources in the Milky Way. Within a few years, the next generation of detectors will open the field of gravitational wave astronomy

[en] We describe the first investigations of the complete engineering model of the optical metrology system (OMS), a key subsystem of the LISA Pathfinder science mission to space. The latter itself is a technological precursor mission to LISA, a spaceborne gravitational wave detector. At its core, the OMS consists of four heterodyne Mach-Zehnder interferometers, a highly stable laser with an external modulator, and a phase meter. It is designed to monitor and track the longitudinal motion and attitude of two floating test masses in the optical reference frame with (relative) precision in the picometer and nanorad range, respectively. We analyze sensor signal correlations and determine a physical sensor noise limit. The coupling parameters between motional degrees of freedom and interferometer signals are analytically derived and compared to measurements. We also measure adverse cross-coupling effects originating from system imperfections and limitations and describe algorithmic mitigation techniques to overcome some of them. Their impact on system performance is analyzed within the context of the Pathfinder mission.

[en] Laser frequency noise is a significant noise source which couples into the main science measurement of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna via the mismatch between the interferometer arm lengths. In this paper we discuss the application of an unequal pathlength heterodyne Mach-Zehnder interferometer to measure and actively stablize the master laser frequency as used in LISA Pathfinder. In comparison with an optical cavity or atomic reference the technique has a wide operating range and does not require a complex lock acquisition procedure. Frequency tuning can be provided by purely electronic means and does not require physically changing the pathlength (or resonance frequency) of the frequency reference and can therefore be combined with arm locking in a straightforward manner.

[en] This paper presents the implementation of an analog optical phase-locked-loop with an offset frequency of about 20MHz between two lasers, where the detected light powers were of the order of 31 pW and 200 μW. The goal of this setup was the design and characterization of a photodiode transimpedance amplifier for application in LISA. By application of a transimpedance amplifier designed to have low noise and low power consumption, the phase noise between the two lasers was a factor of two above the shot noise limit down to 60mHz. The achievable phase sensitivity depends ultimately on the available power of the highly attenuated master laser and on the input current noise of the transimpedance amplifier of the photodetector. The limiting noise source below 60mHz was the analog phase measurement system that was used in this experiment. A digital phase measurement system that is currently under development at the AEI will be used in the near future. Its application should improve the sensitivity.

[en] Two key components of LISA's inter-spacecraft clock tone transfer chain are electro-optic modulators (EOMs) and high-frequency (HF) cable assemblies. At modulation frequencies of 2GHz, we characterized the excess phase noise of these components in the LISA frequency range (0.1 mHz to 1 Hz). The upper phase noise limit was found to be almost an order of magnitude better than required. In addition, phase dependencies on temperature were determined. The measured coefficients are within a few milliradians per Kelvin and thereby negligible due to the specified on-board temperature stability.

[en] The beam splitter in high-power interferometers is subject to significant radiation-pressure fluctuations. As a consequence, the phase relations which appear in the beam splitter coupling equations oscillate and phase modulation fields are generated which add to the reflected fields. In this paper, the transfer function of the various input fields impinging on the beam splitter from all four ports onto the output field is presented including radiation-pressure effects. We apply the general solution of the coupling equations to evaluate the input-output relations of the dual-recycled laser-interferometer topology of the gravitational-wave detector GEO 600 and the power-recycling, signal-extraction topology of advanced LIGO. We show that the input-output relation exhibits a bright-port dark-port coupling. This mechanism is responsible for bright port contributions to the noise density of the output field and technical laser noise is expected to decrease the interferometer's sensitivity at low frequencies. It is shown quantitatively that the issue of technical laser noise is unimportant in this context if the interferometer contains arm cavities

[en] The existence of gravitational waves is the most prominent of Einstein's predictions that has not yet been directly verified. The space project LISA shares its goal and principle of operation with the ground-based interferometers currently under construction: the detection and measurement of gravitational waves by laser interferometry. Only in space, detection of signals below, say, 1 Hz is possible. LISA, a joint project of ESA and NASA, is a mission that will measure these low-frequency waves. LISA consists of three spacecraft in heliocentric orbits, forming a triangle with 5 million km sides. Launch for LISA is scheduled for 2011, following a technology demonstrator LTP in 2006

[en] In a recent table-top experiment, we demonstrated the compatibility of three advanced interferometer techniques for gravitational wave detection, namely power-recycling, detuned signal recycling and squeezed-field injection. The interferometer's signal-to-noise ratio was improved by up to 2.8 dB beyond the coherent state's shot-noise. This value was mainly limited by optical losses on the squeezed field. We present a detailed analysis of the optical losses in our experiment and provide an estimation of the possible nonclassical performance of a future squeezed-field enhanced GEO 600 detector

[en] In order to implement optical inter-spacecraft ranging and data transfer for LISA, the carrier of the laser link must be phase modulated with pseudo-randon noise sidebands. The data acquisition and delay estimation are then implemented in the phasemeter as back end processing. This work presents a proposed demodulation scheme with submeter ranging accuracy and several kilobytes data rate. Its functionality is demonstrated both in a software simulation and in a FPGA-based hardware implementation.