Experimental Demonstration of Time-Delay Interferometry for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

Abstract

We report on the first demonstration of time-delay interferometry (TDI) for LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. TDI was implemented in a laboratory experiment designed to mimic the noise couplings that will occur in LISA. TDI suppressed laser frequency noise by approximately 10^9 and clock phase noise by 6x10^4, recovering the intrinsic displacement noise floor of our laboratory test bed. This removal of laser frequency noise and clock phase noise in post-processing marks the first experimental validation of the LISA measurement scheme.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letters end of May 201