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arXiv · 1504.08266

Readout for intersatellite laser interferometry: Measuring low frequency phase fluctuations of HF signals with microradian precision

Abstract

Precision phase readout of optical beat note signals is one of the core techniques required for intersatellite laser interferometry. Future space based gravitational wave detectors like eLISA require such a readout over a wide range of MHz frequencies, due to orbit induced Doppler shifts, with a precision in the order of $\mu \textrm{rad}/\sqrt{\textrm{Hz}}$ at frequencies between $0.1\,\textrm{mHz}$ and $1\,\textrm{Hz}$. In this paper, we present phase readout systems, so-called phasemeters, that are able to achieve such precisions and we discuss various means that have been employed to reduce noise in the analogue circuit domain and during digitisation. We also discuss the influence of some non-linear noise sources in the analogue domain of such phasemeters. And finally, we present the performance that was achieved during testing of the elegant breadboard model of the LISA phasemeter, that was developed in the scope of an ESA technology development activity.

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Oliver Gerberding, Christian Diekmann, Joachim Kullmann, Michael Tröbs, Ioury Bykov, Simon Barke, Nils Christopher Brause, Juan José Esteban Delgado, Thomas S. Schwarze, Jens Reiche, Karsten Danzmann, Torben Rasmussen, Torben Vendt Hansen, Anders Engaard, Søren Møller Pedersen, Oliver Jennrich, Martin Suess, Zoran Sodnik, Gerhard Heinzel. 2015-04-30. Readout for intersatellite laser interferometry: Measuring low frequency phase fluctuations of HF signals with microradian precision. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4927071

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