Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

An interferometric sensor for satellite drag-free control

2005; IOP Publishing; Volume: 22; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1088/0264-9381/22/10/019

1361-6382

C. C. Speake, S. M. Aston,

Advanced Fiber Optic Sensors

We describe a compact interferometer, under development at the University of Birmingham, that could be employed as a zero-stiffness sensor for drag-free satellites. A prototype bench-top polarization-based homodyne interferometer is discussed that achieves a shot-noise limited displacement sensitivity of 3 × 10−12 m Hz1/2 above 60 Hz. We discuss a wavelength modulation technique that will render the interferometer more robust as it enables the absolute difference in interferometric armlengths to be determined.