Laser ranging and communications for LISA

Experimental demonstration of weak-light laser ranging and data communication for LISA.

Interferometric gravitational wave detectors with an unequal and time-varying arm length configuration like the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna rely on time-delay interferometry (TDI) for laser frequency noise subtraction. However, the TDI algorithm requires a laser ranging scheme with meter accuracy over a five million kilometer arm length. At the end of each arm only about 100 pW of light ...

Fiber laser development for LISA

We have developed a linearly-polarized Ytterbium-doped fiber ring laser with single longitudinal-mode output at 1064nm for LISA and other space applications. Single longitudinalmode selection was achieved by using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and a fiber Fabry-Perot (FFP). The FFP also serves as a frequency-reference within our ring laser. Our laser exhibits comparable low frequency and intensit...

Lunar laser ranging

Lunar laser ranging has provided many of the best tests of gravitation since the first Apollo astronauts landed on the Moon. The march to higher precision continues to this day, now entering the millimeter regime, and promising continued improvement in scientific results. This review introduces key aspects of the technique, details the motivations, observables, and results for a variety of scie...

APOLLO: Multiplexed Lunar Laser Ranging

The Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) is a nextgeneration lunar laser ranging (LLR) campaign aimed at order-of-magnitude improvements in tests of gravitational physics via millimeter range precision. We will employ the 3.5 m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory (APO), located in southern New Mexico at an altitude of 2800 m. As a result of the large aperture si...

Satellite Laser Ranging and General Relativity