arXiv subjects

Gerhard Heinzel

Publications and source records attributed to Gerhard Heinzel.

57 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

The 10m AEI prototype facility A brief overview

The AEI 10 m prototype interferometer facility is currently being constructed at the Albert Einstein Institute in Hannover, Germany. It aims to perform experiments for future gravitational wave detectors using advanced techniques. Seismically isolated benches are planned to be interferometrically interconnected and stabilized, forming a low-noise testbed inside a 100 m^3 ultra-high vacuum system. A well-stabilized high power laser will perform differential position readout of 100 g test masses in a 10 m suspended arm-cavity enhanced Michelson interferometer at the crossover of measurement (shot) noise and backaction (quantum radiation pressure) noise, the so-called Standard Quantum Limit (SQL). Such a sensitivity enables experiments in the highly topical field of macroscopic quantum mechanics. In this article we introduce the experimental facility and describe the methods employed, technical details of subsystems will be covered in future papers.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2010

Calibrating spectral estimation for the LISA Technology Package with multichannel synthetic noise generation

The scientific objectives of the Lisa Technology Package (LTP) experiment, on board of the LISA Pathfinder mission, demand for an accurate calibration and validation of the data analysis tools in advance of the mission launch. The levels of confidence required on the mission outcomes can be reached only with an intense activity on synthetically generated data. A flexible procedure allowing the generation of cross-correlated stationary noise time series was set-up. Multi-channel time series with the desired cross correlation behavior can be generated once a model for a multichannel cross-spectral matrix is provided. The core of the procedure is the synthesis of a noise coloring multichannel filter through a frequency-by-frequency eigendecomposition of the model cross-spectral matrix and a Z-domain fit. The common problem of initial transients in noise time series is solved with a proper initialization of the filter recursive equations. The noise generator performances were tested in a two dimensional case study of the LTP dynamics along the two principal channels of the sensing interferometer.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2006

Phase locking to a LISA arm: first results on a hardware model

We present the first experimental confirmation of the so-called "self-phaselocked delay interferometry". This laser frequency stabilization technique consists basically in comparing the prompt laser signal with a delayed version of itself that has been reflected in another LISA satellite 5 million km away. In our table-top experiment, the phase of a voltage-controlled oscillator is stabilized by means of a control loop based on this technique. In agreement with the theory, the measured unity gain frequency is not limited by the inverse of the used delay (1.6 microseconds). In the time domain, the system also behaves as predicted, including the appearance of a quasi-periodic "ringing" just after the lock acquisition, which decays exponentially. Its initial amplitude is smaller when the loop gain is slowly ramped up instead of suddenly switched on.

physics.ins-det↗