Experimental backscatter measurement rig for LISA beam dumps and FIOS characterisation @LISAcommunity

Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

Experimental backscatter measurement rig for LISA beam dumps and FIOS characterisation

Andrew Earle,Harry Ward,Alasdair Taylor,David Robertson,Michael Perreur-Lloyd

Presented are the current state of design and preliminary results for a backscatter measurement rig required for the characterisation the LISA beam dumps and FIOS back reflection. Beam dumps are responsible for the safe disposal of redundant laser light and provide a critical function to stray light control onboard the Optical Bench (OB). In order to verify the performance of any given beam dump design a system must be devised that can measure the low intensity back reflected light from the component. This poses a challenging task requiring the construction of a measurement rig that can discern the reflected signal from a plethora of competing noise sources. The set up proposed in this poster utilizes the principles of optical heterodyne interferometry, mixing the weak signal returning from the component under test with a high intensity local reference beam of a slightly different frequency. The resultant beat note contains information about the reflected intensity of light. In this experiment a highly reflective oscillating mirror with a variable strength neutral density filter in the beam path is used to simulate the beam dumps. The expected reduction in signal from the beam dumps is around -80 db.

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$Testing of a First-Generation Optical Truss Interferometer for the LISA Telescope The LISA telescope is a bidirectional component that is used to expand an outgoing laser beam to the far spacecraft as well as compress a small fraction of a large incoming beam to a diameter of a few mm at the optical bench. Since the telescope lies directly in the path of the long-baseline LISA interferometer, its structure must be dimensionally stable at the pm/âˆšHz level within the 0.1 mHz â€“ 1 Hz frequency band. A way to measure the displacement noise along the optical path of the telescope is with a compact optical truss interferometer (OTI), consisting of three Fabry-Perot cavities mounted along the telescope to monitor structural distortions over time. The premise is that variations in the cavity lengths will be due to dimensional changes in the telescope structure along three different lateral positions. We have developed a fiber-coupled Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) system that integrates a fiber injector, mode matching optics, and a cavity input mirror into a compact input stage. These input stages will be attached around the primary mirror of the telescope, while the cavity return mirrors will be attached around the secondary mirror of the telescope. Using a PDH-like frequency locking scheme, variations in the cavity lengths will shift the frequency of the locked 1064 nm light which can be monitored through a beat signal between the light from each cavity and a separate laser that is locked to an ultra-stable reference cavity. We have designed and procured three first-generation OTI cavities and are currently testing the prototypes to verify pm/âˆšHz displacement sensitivity. We will present details regarding the design, fabrication, and assembly of the OTI units as well as preliminary results on the prototype testing and plans for future testing and verification. Authors: Kylan Jersey, Ian Harley-Trochimczyk, Yanqi Zhang, Felipe Guzman Presenter: Kylan Jersey$

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