Space demonstrations of LISA technology — Interferometry Original Research Article

A variety of interferometry demonstration missions can be imagined. Probably the simplest, and the most useful, is the use of optical interferometry to measure the differential displacement between two accelerometers mounted in one spacecraft. This optical measurement provides an independent verification of the performance of the accelerometers. We describe an optical layout to achieve this measurement and examine the constraints on the performance of the laser, spacecraft and accelerometers that must be met to achieve a meaningful result.