RESUMO
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will use Time Delay Interferometry (TDI) to suppress the otherwise dominant laser frequency noise. The technique uses sub-sample interpolation of the recorded optical phase measurements to form a family of interferometric combinations immune to frequency noise. This paper reports on the development of a Pseudo-Random Noise laser ranging system used to measure the sub-sample interpolation time shifts required for TDI operation. The system also includes an optical communication capability that meets the 20 kbps LISA requirement. An experimental demonstration of an integrated LISA phase measurement and ranging system achieved a ≈ 0.19 m rms absolute range error with a 0.5Hz signal bandwidth, surpassing the 1 m rms LISA specification. The range measurement is limited by mutual interference between the ranging signals exchanged between spacecraft and the interaction of the ranging code with the phase measurement.
RESUMO
We report on the first demonstration of time-delay interferometry (TDI) for LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. TDI was implemented in a laboratory experiment designed to mimic the noise couplings that will occur in LISA. TDI suppressed laser frequency noise by approximately 10(9) and clock phase noise by 6×10(4), recovering the intrinsic displacement noise floor of our laboratory test bed. This removal of laser frequency noise and clock phase noise in postprocessing marks the first experimental validation of the LISA measurement scheme.
