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 109 and clock phase noise by 6×104, recovering the intrinsic displacement noise floor of our laboratory test bed. This removal of laser frequency noise and clock phase noise in postprocessing marks the first experimental validation of the LISA measurement scheme.