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Magnetic-Induced Force Noise in LISA Pathfinder Free-Falling Test Masses
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Nofrarias, M. +76 more
LISA Pathfinder was a mission designed to test key technologies required for gravitational wave detection in space. Magnetically driven forces play a key role in the instrument sensitivity in the low-frequency regime, which corresponds to the measurement band of interest for future space-borne gravitational wave observatories. Magnetically induced…
Sensor Noise in LISA Pathfinder: In-Flight Performance of the Optical Test Mass Readout
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Sanjuan, J. +85 more
We report on the first subpicometer interferometer flown in space. It was part of ESA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission and performed the fundamental measurement of the positional and angular motion of two free-falling test masses. The interferometer worked immediately, stably, and reliably from switch on until the end…
LISA Pathfinder Performance Confirmed in an Open-Loop Configuration: Results from the Free-Fall Actuation Mode
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Nofrarias, M. +75 more
We report on the results of the LISA Pathfinder (LPF) free-fall mode experiment, in which the control force needed to compensate the quasistatic differential force acting on two test masses is applied intermittently as a series of "impulse" forces lasting a few seconds and separated by roughly 350 s periods of true free fall. This represents an al…
Beyond the Required LISA Free-Fall Performance: New LISA Pathfinder Results down to 20 µ Hz
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Lloro, I. +75 more
In the months since the publication of the first results, the noise performance of LISA Pathfinder has improved because of reduced Brownian noise due to the continued decrease in pressure around the test masses, from a better correction of noninertial effects, and from a better calibration of the electrostatic force actuation. In addition, the ava…
Charge-Induced Force Noise on Free-Falling Test Masses: Results from LISA Pathfinder
Mendes, L.; Madden, S.; Russano, G. +93 more
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 de…
Sub-Femto-g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder Results
Mendes, L.; Madden, S.; Russano, G. +116 more
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 5.2 ±0.1 fm s