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arXiv · 2511.19533

Experimental Demonstration of an On-Axis Laser Ranging Interferometer for Future Gravity Missions

Daikang Wei·Christoph Bode·Kohei Yamamoto·Yongho Lee·Germán Fernández Barranco·Vitali Müller·Miguel Dovale Álvarez·Juan José Esteban Delgado·Gerhard Heinzel
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Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a novel interferometric architecture for next-generation gravity missions, featuring a laser ranging interferometer (LRI) that enables monoaxial transmission and reception of laser beams between two optical benches with a heterodyne frequency of 7.3 MHz. Active beam steering loops, utilizing differential wavefront sensing (DWS) signals, ensure co-alignment between the receiving (RX) beam and the transmitting (TX) beam. With spacecraft attitude jitter simulated by hexapod-driven rotations, the interferometric link achieves a pointing stability below 10 urad/$\mathrm{\sqrt{Hz}}$ in the frequency range between 0.2 mHz and 0.5 Hz, and the fluctuation of the TX beam's polarization state results in a reduction of 0.14\% in the carrier-to-noise-density ratio over a 15-hour continuous measurement. Additionally, tilt-to-length (TTL) coupling is experimentally investigated using the periodic scanning of the hexapod. Experimental results show that the on-axis LRI enables the inter-spacecraft ranging measurements with nanometer accuracy, making it a potential candidate for future GRACE-like missions.

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Daikang Wei, Christoph Bode, Kohei Yamamoto, Yongho Lee, Germán Fernández Barranco, Vitali Müller, Miguel Dovale Álvarez, Juan José Esteban Delgado, Gerhard Heinzel. 2025-11-24. Experimental Demonstration of an On-Axis Laser Ranging Interferometer for Future Gravity Missions. https://doi.org/10.1103/5r3c-9n8z

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