Sub-Femto-g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder Results.

We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.20.1fms^{-2}/sqrt[Hz], or (0.540.01)10^{-15}g/sqrt[Hz], with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.80.3)fm/sqrt[Hz], about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f0.5mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12fms^{-2}/sqrt[Hz] down to 0.1mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA.

Armano, M., Audley, H., Auger, G., Baird, J. T., Bassan, M., Binetruy, P., ... Zweifel, P.

Armano, M||Audley, H||Auger, G||Baird, JT||Bassan, M||Binetruy, P||Born, M||Bortoluzzi, D||Brandt, N||Caleno, M||Carbone, L||Cavalleri, A||Cesarini, A||Ciani, G||Congedo, G||Cruise, AM||Danzmann, K||de Deus Silva, M||De Rosa, R||Diaz-Aguiló, M||Di Fiore, L||Diepholz, I||Dixon, G||Dolesi, R||Dunbar, N||Ferraioli, L||Ferroni, V||Fichter, W||Fitzsimons, ED||Flatscher, R||Freschi, M||García Marín, AF||García Marirrodriga, C||Gerndt, R||Gesa, L||Gibert, F||Giardini, D||Giusteri, R||Guzmán, F||Grado, A||Grimani, C||Grynagier, A||Grzymisch, J||Harrison, I||Heinzel, G||Hewitson, M||Hollington, D||Hoyland, D||Hueller, M||Inchauspé, H||Jennrich, O||Jetzer, P||Johann, U||Johlander, B||Karnesis, N||Kaune, B||Korsakova, N||Killow, CJ||Lobo, JA||Lloro, I||Liu, L||López-Zaragoza, JP||Maarschalkerweerd, R||Mance, D||Martín, V||Martin-Polo, L||Martino, J||Martin-Porqueras, F||Madden, S||Mateos, I||McNamara, PW||Mendes, J||Mendes, L||Monsky, A||Nicolodi, D||Nofrarias, M||Paczkowski, S||Perreur-Lloyd, M||Petiteau, A||Pivato, P||Plagnol, E||Prat, P||Ragnit, U||Raïs, B||Ramos-Castro, J||Reiche, J||Robertson, DI||Rozemeijer, H||Rivas, F||Russano, G||Sanjuán, J||Sarra, P||Schleicher, A||Shaul, D||Slutsky, J||Sopuerta, CF||Stanga, R||Steier, F||Sumner, T||Texier, D||Thorpe, JI||Trenkel, C||Tröbs, M||Tu, HB||Vetrugno, D||Vitale, S||Wand, V||Wanner, G||Ward, H||Warren, C||Wass, PJ||Wealthy, D||Weber, WJ||Wissel, L||Wittchen, A||Zambotti, A||Zanoni, C||Ziegler, T||Zweifel, P

Sub-Femto-g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder Results. Academic Article