Lifetime Testing UV LEDs for Use in the LISA Charge Management System

Abstract

As a future charge management light source, UV light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) offer far superior performance in a range of metrics compared to the mercury lamps used in the past. As part of a qualification program a number of short wavelength UV LEDs have been subjected to a series of lifetime tests for potential use on the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. These tests were performed at realistic output levels for both fast and continuous discharging in either a DC or pulsed mode of operation and included a DC fast discharge test spanning 50 days, a temperature dependent pulsed fast discharge test spanning 21 days and a pulsed continuous discharge test spanning 507 days. Two types of UV LED have demonstrated lifetimes equivalent to over 25 years of realistic mission usage and provide a baseline and backup solution for LISA.

References in corpus (3)

• The interaction between stray electrostatic fields and a charged free-falling test mass
• Ground Testing and Flight Demonstration of Charge Management of Insulated Test Masses Using UV LED Electron Photoemission
• Energy distribution and quantum yield for photoemission from air-contaminated gold surfaces under UV illumination close to the threshold

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Effective decrease of photoelectric emission threshold from gold plated surfaces
• Numerical Modeling and Experimental Demonstration of Pulsed Charge Control for the Space Inertial Sensor used in LISA