Ultrastable optical components using adjustable commercial mirror mounts anchored in a ULE spacer

Area of Science:

• Optics and optical engineering
• Astrophysics and space science
• Mechanical engineering

Background:

• Ultrastable interferometers are crucial for precision measurements in fundamental physics and space missions.
• Existing designs often lack flexibility, hindering alignment optimization.
• The Any Light Particle Search (ALPS) and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) missions require highly stable optical systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel, flexible approach for building ultrastable interferometers.
• To characterize the dimensional and angular stability of commercial mirror mounts in an ultralow expansion (ULE) base.
• To assess the suitability of this design for ALPS and LISA ground testing.

Main Methods:

• Utilized commercial mirror mounts anchored in an ultralow expansion (ULE) base.
• Characterized component stability within a cavity setup.
• Measured long-term length changes and relative angular stability.
• Assessed length noise stability at 1 pm/√Hz.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated long-term length stability within 30 nm.
• Achieved relative angular stability within 2 µrad, meeting ALPS requirements.
• Confirmed 1 pm/√Hz length noise stability, crucial for LISA subsystems.
• The design allows for flexible alignment and modification of optical components.

Conclusions:

• The novel interferometer design using ULE-anchored commercial mirror mounts offers superior flexibility and stability.
• The achieved stability metrics meet the stringent requirements for ALPS and LISA.
• This approach enables the development of advanced opto-mechanical structures for future space missions and ground verification.