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Developing LISA and LISA Pathfinder
 The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna ( LISA) is a spaceborne gravitational-wave
detector that consists of 3 spacecraft in an equilateral triangle
formation, separated by 5 million km. This constellation orbits
the sun at 1 AU, 50 million km behind the Earth. Relative changes
in the separation between drag-free-controlled test masses
located in remote spacecraft will be measured by laser
interferometry with picometer precision in the frequency range
from 0.1 mHz to 1 Hz.
At the Albert Einstein Institute Hannover we design and
develop key optical technologies for LISA, mainly focusing on
advanced laser interferometry at low frequencies that makes this
measurement possible.
Our main research areas involve:
- High laser stability at low frequencies:
development, characterization and testing of
laser frequency-stabilization techniques for
gravitational wave interferometry in space. ( read more)
- Phasemeter: design and development of a high sensitivity
(microradian/sqrt(Hz) @ 1 mHz) measurement system for
phase extraction of a frequency-variable heterodyne beat
note (from 2 MHz to 20 MHz) obtained from the
interference between a spacecraft's local oscillator
(laser) and the remote incoming laser beam.
- Optical amplifiers and EOMs:
characterization and testing of fiber amplifiers and electro-optical modulators for their suitability for LISA.
( read more)
- Ultra stable phase-offset lock:
development of techniques to lock
the frequency of lasers located in different spacecraft with
only few picowatt laser power as reference signal. ( read more)
- LISA test mass optical readout: design and development of
an interferometric optical readout system to monitor the
LISA test mass motion at low frequencies, with high
fidelity in all degrees of freedom.
- Laser and interferometry development: laser development, testing and
hardware simulation of LTP on-orbit operation for LISA Pathfinder, the
technology demonstration mission
to be launched in 2009. ( read more)
These among many other research activities regarding the
design of the LISA mission, offer the possibility of many
interesting topics within the scope of diploma/master thesis,
student internships, PhD thesis, and post-doctoral research.
All our research projects comprise an interesting combination
between optics, analog and digital electronics, control systems,
as well as software and hardware programming, providing thus a
broad spectrum of areas to learn from and work at.
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