Pierce R, Leitch J, Stephens M, Bender P, Nerem R
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, 1600 Commerce Street, Boulder, Colorado 80306-1062, USA.
Appl Opt. 2008 Sep 20;47(27):5007-18. doi: 10.1364/ao.47.005007.
We report on an interferometer designed to provide 1-10 nm/square root(Hz) displacement measurement resolution, in the range 0.01 Hz to 1 Hz, while in low Earth orbit. The interferometer comprises two units, each with its own laser and in separate satellites, which would be in the same orbit separated by approximately 50 km. We discuss the requirements on the interferometer subsystem and describe the optical transponder distance measurement, including a phase locking method to generate a heterodyne beat signal between the two lasers. Design, fabrication, and testing of a "flightlike" engineering model interferometer is outlined, and results from environmental and performance tests are reported.
我们报告了一种干涉仪，其设计目的是在近地轨道上，在0.01赫兹至1赫兹的频率范围内提供1 - 10纳米/√赫兹的位移测量分辨率。该干涉仪由两个单元组成，每个单元都有自己的激光器，且位于不同的卫星上，这两颗卫星处于同一轨道，相距约50公里。我们讨论了对干涉仪子系统的要求，并描述了光学应答器距离测量，包括一种用于在两台激光器之间生成外差拍频信号的锁相方法。概述了一个“类飞行”工程模型干涉仪的设计、制造和测试，并报告了环境和性能测试的结果。
