On-axis Optical Bench for Laser Ranging Instruments in future gravity missions

Abstract

The Laser Ranging Interferometer onboard the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission proved the feasibility of an interferometric sensor for inter-satellite length tracking with sub-nanometer precision, establishing an important milestone for space laser interferometry and the general expectation that future gravity missions will employ heterodyne laser interferometry for satellite-to-satellite ranging. In this paper we present the design of an on-axis optical bench for next-generation laser ranging which enhances the received optical power and the transmit beam divergence, enabling longer interferometer arms and relaxing the optical power requirement of the laser assembly. All design functionalities and requirements are verified by means of computer simulations. A thermal analysis is carried out to investigate the robustness of the proposed optical bench to the temperature fluctuations found in orbit.

arXiv comment18 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (6)

• TianQin: a space-borne gravitational wave detector
• Optical Communication in Space: Challenges and Mitigation Techniques
• On orbit performance of the GRACE Follow-On Laser Ranging Interferometer
• Optical suppression of tilt-to-length coupling in the LISA long-arm interferometer
• Tracking length and differential wavefront sensing signals from quadrant photodiodes in heterodyne interferometers with digital phase-locked loop readout
• Mass sensitivity of gravimetric satellites

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Experimental Demonstration of an On-Axis Laser Ranging Interferometer for Future Gravity Missions