Charge-induced force-noise on free-falling test masses: results from LISA Pathfinder
Abstract
We report on electrostatic measurements made on board the European Space Agency mission LISA Pathfinder. Detailed measurements of the charge-induced electrostatic forces exerted on free-falling test masses (TMs) inside the capacitive gravitational reference sensor are the first made in a relevant environment for a space-based gravitational wave detector. Employing a combination of charge control and electric-field compensation, we show that the level of charge-induced acceleration noise on a single TM can be maintained at a level close to 1.0 fm/s^2/sqrt(Hz) across the 0.1-100 mHz frequency band that is crucial to an observatory such as LISA. Using dedicated measurements that detect these effects in the differential acceleration between the two test masses, we resolve the stochastic nature of the TM charge build up due to interplanetary cosmic rays and the TM charge-to-force coupling through stray electric fields in the sensor. All our measurements are in good agreement with predictions based on a relatively simple electrostatic model of the LISA Pathfinder instrument.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1702.04633,
title = {Charge-induced force-noise on free-falling test masses: results from LISA Pathfinder},
author = {M. Armano and H. Audley and G. Auger and J. T. Baird and P. Binetruy and M. Born and D. Bortoluzzi and N. Brandt and A. Bursi and M. Caleno and A. Cavalleri and A. Cesarini and M. Cruise and K. Danzmann and M. de Deus Silva and I. Diepholz and R. Dolesi and N. Dunbar and L. Ferraioli and V. Ferroni and E. D. Fitzsimons and R. Flatscher and M. Freschi and J. Gallegos and C. García Marirrodriga and R. Gerndt and L. Gesa and F. Gibert and D. Giardini and R. Giusteri and C. Grimani and J. Grzymisch and I. Harrison and G. Heinzel and M. Hewitson and D. Hollington and M. Hueller and J. Huesler and H. Inchauspé and O. Jennrich and P. Jetzer and B. Johlander and N. Karnesis and B. Kaune and C. J. Killow and N. Korsakova and I. Lloro and L. Liu and R. Maarschalkerweerd and S. Madden and D. Mance and V. Martín and L. Martin-Polo and J. Martino and F. Martin-Porqueras and I. Mateos and P. W. McNamara and J. Mendes and L. Mendes and A. Moroni and M. Nofrarias and S. Paczkowski and M. Perreur-Lloyd and A. Petiteau and P. Pivato and E. Plagnol and P. Prat and U. Ragnit and J. Ramos-Castro and J. Reiche and J. A. Romera Perez and D. I. Robertson and H. Rozemeijer and F. Rivas and G. Russano and P. Sarra and A. Schleicher and J. Slutsky and C. Sopuerta and T. J. Sumner and D. Texier and J. I. Thorpe and C. Trenkel and D. Vetrugno and S. Vitale and G. Wanner and H. Ward and P. J. Wass and D. Wealthy and W. J. Weber and A. Wittchen and C. Zanoni and T. Ziegler and P. Zweifel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.04633},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
9 Pages, 3 figures