Ultraprecision intersatellite laser interferometry

Abstract

Precision measurement tools are compulsory to reduce measurement errors or machining errors in the processes of calibration and manufacturing. The laser interferometer is one of the most important measurement tools invented in the 20th century. Today, it is commonly used in ultraprecision machining and manufacturing, ultraprecision positioning control, and many noncontact optical sensing technologies. So far, the state-of-the-art laser interferometers are the ground-based gravitational-wave detectors, e.g. the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). The LIGO has reached the measurement quantum limit, and some quantum technologies with squeezed light are currently being tested in order to further decompress the noise level. In this paper, we focus on the laser interferometry developed for space-based gravitational-wave detection. The basic working principle and the current status of the key technologies of intersatellite laser interferometry are introduced and discussed in detail. The launch and operation of these large-scale, gravitational-wave detectors based on space-based laser interferometry is proposed for the 2030s.