Molecular laser stabilization for LISA

Abstract

The expected performance of LISA relies on two main technical challenges: the ability for the spacecrafts to precisely follow the free-flying masses and the outstanding precision of the phase shift measurement. This latter constraint requires frequency stabilized lasers and efficient numerical algorithms to account for the redundant, delayed noise propagation, thus cancelling laser phase noise by many orders of magnitude (TDI methods). Recently involved in the technical developments for LISA, the goal of our team at APC (France) is to contribute on these two subjects: frequency reference for laser stabilization and benchtop simulation of the interferometer. In the present design of LISA, two stages of laser stabilization are used (not accounting for the "post-processed" TDI algorithm): laser pre-stabilization on a frequency reference and lock on the ultra stable distance between spacecrafts (arm-locking). While the foreseen (and deeply studied) laser reference consists of a Fabry-Perot cavity, other techniques may be suitable for LISA or future metrology missions. In particular, locking to a molecular reference (namely iodine in the case of the LISA Nd:YAG laser) is an interesting alternative. It offers the required performance with very good long-term stability (absolute frequency reference) though the reference can be slightly tuned to account for arm-locking. This technique is currently being investigated by our team and optimized for LISA (compactness, vacuum compatibility, ease of use and initialization, etc.). A collaboration with a French laboratory (the SYRTE) had been started aiming to study a second improved technique consisting in inserting the iodine cell in a Fabry-Perot cavity. Ongoing results and prospects to increase the performance of the system are presented in the present article.