Demonstration of an Ultraprecise Optical Bench for the Taiji Space Gravitational Wave Detection Pathfinder Mission

Abstract

For the Taiji space gravitational wave detection and its pathfinder mission, ultraprecise technology for optical assembly must be adopted to satisfy the high measurement sensitivities required. In this paper, we construct and evaluate an optical bench to assess its precision in optical assembly and bonding. We opted for hydroxide-catalysis bonding technology and designed a corresponding adjustment scheme to achieve an ultraprecise assembly for the optical bench. After alignment, the angular deviation between the interference beam and its ideal position in the global coordinate system is no more than 45 μrad, and positional deviation is less than 10 μm. The final experimental results indicate that the measurement precision of the evaluated board is 6 pm/√Hz, which meets the specifications required for the Taiji pathfinder.

Keywords

• Taiji pathfinder
• assembly
• hydroxide-catalysis bonding
• measurement precision