TY - JOUR

T1 - Single-Element Dual-Interferometer for Precision Inertial Sensing: Sub-Picometer Structural Stability and Performance as a Reference for Laser Frequency Stabilization

AU - Huarcaya, Victor

AU - Dovale Álvarez, Miguel

AU - Yamamoto, Kohei

AU - Yang, Yichao

AU - Gozzo, Stefano

AU - Martínez Cano, Pablo

AU - Mehmet, Moritz

AU - Esteban Delgado, Juan José

AU - Jia, Jianjun

AU - Heinzel, Gerhard

N1 - Funding Information: This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) Project—ID 434617780-SFB 1464. The authors acknowledge support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Sonderforschungsbereich 1128 Relativistic Geodesy and Cluster of Excellence “QuantumFrontiers: Light and Matter at the Quantum Frontier: Foundations and Applications in Metrology” (EXC-2123, Project No. 390837967) and Max Planck Society (MPS) through the LEGACY cooperation on low-frequency gravitational wave astronomy (M.IF.A.QOP18098). The authors also acknowledge support by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) with funds from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) according to a decision of the German Federal Parliament (Grant No. 50OQ2301, based on Grants No. 50OQ0601, No. 50OQ1301, No. 50OQ1801).

PY - 2023/12/11

Y1 - 2023/12/11

N2 - Future GRACE-like geodesy missions could benefit from adopting accelerometer technology akin to that of the LISA Pathfinder, which employed laser interferometric readout at the sub-picometer level in addition to the conventional capacitive sensing, which is at best at the level of 100 pm. Improving accelerometer performance holds great potential to enhance the scientific output of forthcoming missions, carrying invaluable implications for research in climate, water resource management, and disaster risk reduction. To reach sub-picometer displacement sensing precision in the millihertz range, laser interferometers rely on suppression of laser-frequency noise by several orders of magnitude. Many optical frequency stabilization methods are available with varying levels of complexity, size, and performance. In this paper, we describe the performance of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer based on a compact monolithic optic. The setup consists of a commercial fiber injector, a custom-designed pentaprism used to split and recombine the laser beam, and two photoreceivers placed at the complementary output ports of the interferometer. The structural stability of the prism is transferred to the laser frequency via amplification, integration, and feedback of the balanced-detection signal, achieving a fractional frequency instability better than 6 parts in (Formula presented.), corresponding to an interferometer pathlength stability better than (Formula presented.). The prism was designed to host a second interferometer to interrogate the position of a test mass. This optical scheme has been dubbed “single-element dual-interferometer” or SEDI.

AB - Future GRACE-like geodesy missions could benefit from adopting accelerometer technology akin to that of the LISA Pathfinder, which employed laser interferometric readout at the sub-picometer level in addition to the conventional capacitive sensing, which is at best at the level of 100 pm. Improving accelerometer performance holds great potential to enhance the scientific output of forthcoming missions, carrying invaluable implications for research in climate, water resource management, and disaster risk reduction. To reach sub-picometer displacement sensing precision in the millihertz range, laser interferometers rely on suppression of laser-frequency noise by several orders of magnitude. Many optical frequency stabilization methods are available with varying levels of complexity, size, and performance. In this paper, we describe the performance of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer based on a compact monolithic optic. The setup consists of a commercial fiber injector, a custom-designed pentaprism used to split and recombine the laser beam, and two photoreceivers placed at the complementary output ports of the interferometer. The structural stability of the prism is transferred to the laser frequency via amplification, integration, and feedback of the balanced-detection signal, achieving a fractional frequency instability better than 6 parts in (Formula presented.), corresponding to an interferometer pathlength stability better than (Formula presented.). The prism was designed to host a second interferometer to interrogate the position of a test mass. This optical scheme has been dubbed “single-element dual-interferometer” or SEDI.

KW - inertial sensing

KW - laser interferometry

KW - optical readout

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180546303&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.48550/arXiv.2310.01078

DO - 10.48550/arXiv.2310.01078

M3 - Article

C2 - 38139604

AN - SCOPUS:85180546303

VL - 23

JO - Sensors

JF - Sensors

SN - 1424-8220

IS - 24

M1 - 9758

ER -