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A facility to test the linearity and drift of heterodyne laser metrology gauges for measuring distances of 1 to 7 meters with 10 picometer repeatability is described.
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This paper briefly describes the nanometer-class metrology system used in this testbed to estimate the length and orientation of the science baseline vector, which cannot be measured directly. The focus is on the mathematical inversion problem that results and its solution.
The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) relies on interferometry and metrology capable of measuring the change in the optical path difference with picometer accuracy.
The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) scheduled for launch in early 2010, is an optical interferometer that will perform narrow angle and global wide angle astrometry with unprecedented accuracy, providing differential position accuracies of 1uas, and 4uas global accuracies in position, proper motion and parallax. The astrometric observations of the SIM instrument are performed via delay measurements provided by three Michelson-type, white light interferometers. Two 'guide' interferometers acquire fringes on bright guide stars in order to make highly precise measurements of variations in spacecraft attitude, while the third interferometer performs the science measurement. SIM derives its performance from a combination of precise fringe measurements of the interfered starlight (a few ten-thousandths of a wave) and very precise (tens of picometers) relative distance measurements made between a set of fiducials. The focus of the present paper is on the development and analysis of algorithms for accurate white light estimation, and on validating some of these algorithms on the MicroArcsecond Testbed.
The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), scheduled for launch in early 2010, is an optical interferometer that will perform narrow angle and global wide angle astrometry with unprecedented accuracy, providing differential position accuracies of 1uas, and 4uas global accuracies in position, proper motion and parallax. SIM astrometric measurements are synthesized from pathlength delay measurements provided by three Michelson-type, white light interferometers. Two of the interferometers are used for making precise measurements of variations in the spacecraft attitude, while the third interferometer performs the science measurement. The ultimate performance of SIM relies on a combination of precise fringe measurements of the interfered starlight with picometer class relative distance measurements made between a set of fiducials that define the interferometer baseline vectors. The focus of the present paper is on the development and analysis of algorithms for accurate white light fringe estimation, and on the preliminary validation of these algorithms on the Micro-Arcsecond Testbed (MAM).
For precision displacement measurements, laser metrology is currently one of the most accurate measurements. Often, the measurement is located some distance away from the laser source, and as a result, stringent requirements are placed on the laser delivery system with respect to the state of polarization. Such is the case with the fiber distribution assembly (FDA) that is slated to fly aboard the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) next decade. This system utilizes a concatenated array of couplers, polarizers and lengthy runs of polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber to distribute linearly-polarized light from a single laser to fourteen different optical metrology measurement points throughout the spacecraft. Optical power fluctuations at the point of measurement can be traced back to the polarization extinction ration (PER) of the concatenated components, in conjunction with the rate of change in phase difference of the light along the slow and fast axes of the PM fiber.
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The proposed Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) spacecraft designs include high resolution stellar interferometers for micro-arc-second accuracy astrometric measurements.
The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) requires the control of the optical path of each interferometer with picometer accuracy. Laser metrology gauges are used to measure the path lengths to the fiiducial corner cubes at the siderostats. Due to the geometry of SIM a single corner cube does not have sufficient acceptance angle to work with all the gauges. Therefore SIM employs a double corner cube. Current fabrication methods are in fact not capable of producing such a double corner cube with vertices having sufficient commonality. The plan for SIM is to measure the non-commonalty of the vertices and correct for the error in orbit. SIM requires that the non-common vertex error (NCVE) of the double corner cube to be less than 6 (mu)m. The required accuracy for the knowledge of the NCVE is less than 1 (mu)m. This paper explains a method of measuring non-common vertices of a brassboard double corner cube with sub-micron accuracy. The results of such a measurement will be presented.
The Space Interferometry Mission (S1M) will measure optical path differences (OPDs) with an accuracy of tens of picometers, requiring precise calibration of the instrument. In this article, we present a calibration approach based on fitting star light interference fringes in the interferometer using a least-squares algorithm. The algorithm is first analyzed for the case of a monochromatic light source with a monochromatic fringe model. Using fringe data measured on the Micro-Arcsecond Metrology (MAM) testbed with a laser source, the error in the determination of the wavelength is shown to be less than 10pm. By using a quasi-monochromatic fringe model, the algorithm can be extended to the case of a white light source with a narrow detection bandwidth. In SIM, because of the finite bandwidth of each CCD pixel, the effect of the fringe envelope can not be neglected, especially for the larger optical path difference range favored for the wavelength calibration.
The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) is a microarcsecond interferometric space telescope that requires picometer level precision measurements of its truss and interferometer baselines. Single-gauge metrology errors due to non-ideal physical characteristics of corner cubes reduce the angular measurement capability of the science instrument. Specifically, the non-common vertex error (NCVE) of a shared vertex, double corner cube introduces micrometer level single-gauge errors in addition to errors due to dihedral angles and reflection phase shifts. A modified SIM Kite Testbed containing an articulating double corner cube is modeled and the results are compared to the experimental testbed data. The results confirm modeling capability and viability of calibration techniques.
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The SIM project is approaching the end of its technology development phase. With the successful completion of a number of testbeds, including micro-arcsecond stellar interferometry, picometer optical truss metrology, and milli-kelvin thermo-optical characterization, the project is now on a sure footing for the development of requirement for the flight instrument. Here we review the latest technological progress and give a status of the project.
The proposed Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) spacecraft carries high resolution stellar interferometers for micro-arc-second accuracy astrometric measurements.