D. Roma-Dollase | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Antenna for the detection of electromagnetic audio-band disturbances on-board LISA

The LISA mission will be the first observatory to detect gravitational waves from space within the millihertz frequency band. Magnetic forces have an important impact on the instrument's sensitivity below the millihertz. Hence, monitoring the magnetic environment within each of the LISA spacecrafts is of utmost importance. In this Letter we present the characterization of the coils that were used in LISA Pathfinder (LPF) when operating as magnetic sensors in the audio frequency band. The necessity of implementing this type of magnetometer is presented in order to monitor high frequency magnetic signals from the electronics on-board. We show that the LPF coils have a performance one order of magnitude better than the current requirements set by the LISA mission at the low end of the audio-band frequency. The LPF coils are able to measure a magnetic noise level of 1.45 $\rm pT/\sqrt{\rm{Hz}}$ at 50 Hz and 0.17 $\rm pT/\sqrt{\rm{Hz}}$ at 500 Hz. Additionally, the LPF coils can reach a magnetic noise floor of 0.1 $\rm pT/\sqrt{\rm{Hz}}$ at frequencies above 1 kHz.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

Spacecraft and interplanetary contributions to the magnetic environment on-board LISA Pathfinder

LISA Pathfinder (LPF) has been a space-based mission designed to test new technologies that will be required for a gravitational wave observatory in space. Magnetically driven forces play a key role in the instrument sensitivity in the low-frequency regime (mHz and below), the measurement band of interest for a space-based observatory. The magnetic field can couple to the magnetic susceptibility and remanent magnetic moment from the test masses and disturb them from their geodesic movement. LISA Pathfinder carried on-board a dedicated magnetic measurement subsystem with noise levels of 10 $ \rm nT \ Hz^{-1/2}$ from 1 Hz down to 1 mHz. In this paper we report on the magnetic measurements throughout LISA Pathfinder operations. We characterise the magnetic environment within the spacecraft, study the time evolution of the magnetic field and its stability down to 20 $μ$Hz, where we measure values around 200 $ \rm nT \ Hz^{-1/2}$ and identify two different frequency regimes, one related to the interplanetary magnetic field and the other to the magnetic field originating inside the spacecraft. Finally, we characterise the non-stationary component of the fluctuations of the magnetic field below the mHz and relate them to the dynamics of the solar wind.

astro-ph.IM↗