Laser frequency noise suppression by arm-locking in LISA:progress towards a bench-top demonstration

Abstract

Overcoming laser frequency noise is a significant technical challenge for achieving the design sensitivity of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) gravitational wave detector. Arm-locking is a recently proposed technique for suppressing frequency noise in LISA and can be used in addition to the established techniques of pre-stabilization and time-delay interferometry. Incorporation of arm-locking into LISA could provide many benefits, however experimental verification and testing is needed. We present the progress of an experimental test of arm-locking which uses 10 km of optical fibre to generate a large propagation time delay, analogous to the propagation delay in LISA.