Interferometry for the space mission LISA Pathfinder

Summary available: p. xxvi-xxviii

Measurement of the non-reciprocal phase noise of a polarization maintaining single-mode optical fiber

Polarization maintaining single-mode optical fibers are key components in the interferometry of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). LISA's measurement principle relies on the availability of space qualified fibers of this type which influence the phase of light with a wavelength of 1064 nm passing in opposite directions through them with differences smaller than 6 prad/. We present a measurement scheme suitable to sense these non-reciprocal phase changes, as well as results obtained using this setup on samples of commercially available fibers. The experimental setup for the fiber characterization consists of a quasi-monolithic interferometer which constitutes a representative cut-out of the local interferometry on-board LISA concerning the fiber. Several noise sources are identified and improvements to the setup are presented to overcome them. The noise level achieved using this setup is between approximately 40 prad/ and 400 prad/ in the frequency range between 1 mHz and 1 Hz. It is also verified that this noise level is limited by the setup and not introduced by the fiber.DLR/50 OQ 060

An elegant Breadboard of the optical bench for eLISA/NGO

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, as well as its reformulated European-only evolution, the New Gravitational-Wave Observatory, both employ heterodyne laser interferometry on million kilometer scale arm lengths in a triangular spacecraft formation, to observe gravitational waves at frequencies between 3 × 10−5 Hz and 1 Hz. The Optical Bench as central payload element realizes both the inter-spacecraft as well as local laser metrology with respect to inertial proof masses, and provides further functions, such as point-ahead accommodation, acquisition sensing, transmit beam conditioning, optical power monitoring, and laser redundancy switching. These functions have been combined in a detailed design of an Optical Bench Elegant Breadboard, which is currently under assembly and integration. We present an overview of the realization and current performances of the Optical Bench subsystems, which employ ultraprecise piezo mechanism, ultrastable assembly techniques, and shot noise limited RF detection to achieve translation and tilt metrology at Picometer and Nanoradian noise levels

Searching for a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves with LIGO

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has performed the fourth science run, S4, with significantly improved interferometer sensitivities with respect to previous runs. Using data acquired during this science run, we place a limit on the amplitude of a stochastic background of gravitational waves. For a frequency independent spectrum, the new limit is $\Omega_{\rm GW} < 6.5 \times 10^{-5}$. This is currently the most sensitive result in the frequency range 51-150 Hz, with a factor of 13 improvement over the previous LIGO result. We discuss complementarity of the new result with other constraints on a stochastic background of gravitational waves, and we investigate implications of the new result for different models of this background.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figure

Interpolatory product quadratures for Cauchy principal value integrals with Freud weights

We prove convergence results and error estimates for interpolatory product quadrature formulas for Cauchy principal value integrals on the real line with Freud-type weight functions. The formulas are based on polynomial interpolation at the zeros of orthogonal polynomials associated with the weight function under consideration. As a by-product, we obtain new bounds for the derivative of the functions of the second kind for these weight functions. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RO 8347(1997,10) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Search of S3 LIGO data for gravitational wave signals from spinning black hole and neutron star binary inspirals

We report on the methods and results of the first dedicated search for gravitational waves emitted during the inspiral of compact binaries with spinning component bodies. We analyze 788 hours of data collected during the third science run (S3) of the LIGO detectors. We searched for binary systems using a detection template family designed specially to capture the effects of the spin-induced precession of the orbital plane. We present details of the techniques developed to enable this search for spin-modulated gravitational waves, highlighting the differences between this and other recent searches for binaries with non-spinning components. The template bank we employed was found to yield high matches with our spin-modulated target waveform for binaries with masses in the asymmetric range 1.0 Msol < m1 < 3.0 Msol and 12.0 Msol < m2 < 20.0 Msol which is where we would expect the spin of the binary's components to have significant effect. We find that our search of S3 LIGO data had good sensitivity to binaries in the Milky Way and to a small fraction of binaries in M31 and M33 with masses in the range 1.0 Msol < m1, m2 < 20.0 Msol. No gravitational wave signals were identified during this search. Assuming a binary population with spinning components and Gaussian distribution of masses representing a prototypical neutron star - black hole system with m1 ~ 1.35 Msol and m2 ~ 5 Msol, we calculate the 90%-confidence upper limit on the rate of coalescence of these systems to be 15.9 yr^-1 L_10^-1, where L_10 is 10^10 times the blue light luminosity of the Sun.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Upper limits on gravitational wave emission from 78 radio pulsars

We present upper limits on the gravitational wave emission from 78 radio pulsars based on data from the third and fourth science runs of the LIGO and GEO 600 gravitational wave detectors. The data from both runs have been combined coherently to maximize sensitivity. For the first time, pulsars within binary (or multiple) systems have been included in the search by taking into account the signal modulation due to their orbits. Our upper limits are therefore the first measured for 56 of these pulsars. For the remaining 22, our results improve on previous upper limits by up to a factor of 10. For example, our tightest upper limit on the gravitational strain is 2.6×10-25 for PSR J1603-7202, and the equatorial ellipticity of PSR J2124–3358 is less than 10-6. Furthermore, our strain upper limit for the Crab pulsar is only 2.2 times greater than the fiducial spin-down limit

Publisher’s Note: First cross-correlation analysis of interferometric and resonant-bar gravitational-wave data for stochastic backgrounds [Phys. Rev. DPRVDAQ0556-2821 76, 022001 (2007)]

This paper was published online on 9 July 2007 with incorrect affiliation numbering in the author list. The affiliations have been corrected as of 23 July 2007. The text is correct in the printed version of the journal

Publisher’s Note: First cross-correlation analysis of interferometric and resonant-bar gravitational-wave data for stochastic backgrounds [Phys. Rev. D 76, 022001 (2007)]

This paper was published online on 9 July 2007 with a formatting error in the fiftieth affiliation in the author list. The affiliation should read as ‘‘University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.’’ The affiliation has been corrected as of 4 March 2008. The affiliation is incorrect in the printed version of the journal